Noise impact fear over site for housing
●
CONCERNS have been raised by businesses over noise levels from nearby industrial activities impacting proposals to build more than 240 homes on a former Imperial Chemicals Industry (ICI) site in Widnes.
Plans from Satplan are due to go before Halton Borough Council’s development control committee (DCC) proposing 243 homes on a site to the west of Tan House Lane and south east of the Hive Leisure Park.
There would also be an open space and infrastructure created.
The homes would include flats, semi and detached two and three storey houses, and bungalows, with the properties having between one and four bedrooms.
It was formerly used by ICI and there are no other current residential or sensitive land uses close to the area, a report prepared for councillors ahead of the meeting said.
A clean up is currently taking place at the site to prepare it for usage.
But concerns have been raised through a consultation process, particularly regarding noise levels.
Halton Borough Council’s environmental health department believes the application ‘has not adequately addressed the potential noise issues from the surrounding industrial area’ and are unable to support it.
These concerns have been echoed by ICoNiChem, a firm on Moss Bank Road which produces inorganic salts of cobalt and nickel used in the manufacture of products including colour pigments, rubber adhesion promoters, paint driers and petrochemical catalysts, the report said.
Aside from Sunday
● afternoons, ft this thi process continues seven days a week and the noise from ICoNiChem can be heard from the application site, which is described in the document as ‘continuous’.
A siren reaching 106 decibels could also ‘no doubt’ be heard from where the homes would be built, as well the possibility of hearing a tannoy.
The document said the site has been designated by the Health And Safety Executive (HSE) as in the upper tier of Control Of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) areas.
A zone including the ICoNiChem site regarding this is subject to change and any release of gas or an explosion will ‘likely affect’ the surrounding area, giving a ‘very real risk’ to the planned housing estate.
The ICoNiChem objection said: “Overall, the applicant has failed to consider our client and the ICoNiChem Site within the application.
“Our client simply wants to protect their business, both in terms of current use and future expansion.
“As it stands, this application offers no such protection which is not acceptable. We accordingly respectfully request that the local planning authority refuse the application in its current form.”
Similar concerns surrounding noise have also been expressed by Unifrax Ltd, which produces Saffil Alumina Fibres.
An objection from this firm states that noise from the plant is ‘of such significance’ that it can be h heard df from th the planned l d housing site 24 hours a day.
There is also a ‘continuous’ noise from the site, adding that an emergency siren can ‘no doubt’ be heard from the earmarked estate, with a tannoy also ‘likely to affect the amenity’ of any residential properties.
Like ICoNiChem, Unifrax has asked for the application to be refused.
A statement read: “As a growing manufacturing company and employer for the local community, we simply want to protect our business and the employees’ future.
“As it stands, this application offers no such protection, which is not acceptable and I would hope you would agree.”
A response from the council regarding noise levels acknowledges the concerns raised by the firms, but that weekly emergency siren tests are ‘not without precedent’ within the borough in locations also adjacent to residential areas and are ‘not considered to constitute a nuisance’.
The use of tannoys when used proportionately and particularly during daylight hours are ‘unlikely to constitute a statutory nuisance’.
The recommendation is that the council’s operational director for policy, planning and transportation should consult with the DCC’s chairman or vice chairman to determine the application’s fate.
A decision will be taken at the meeting on Monday, November 4.