Car showroom plan for arson attacks site ALEX SCAPENS
PLANNERS are set to rule on proposals to transform a derelict site which has been targeted by arsonists in recent weeks.
An application from LSH Auto Properties seeks to clear existing buildings and vegetation from a 4,650sq m site at Brighton Road, Heaton Mersey, as well as put up hoardings to protect it.
The proposals will be ruled on at a planning and highways committee meeting tomorrow (September 7) and are to prepare the area for the same company to eventually build a car showroom.
But, little more than a week before the meeting, arsonists went to the former industrial estate two nights running and started large fires.
Waste including window frames, scrap metal and gas cylinders were set alight and overhead telephone lines were damaged.
The planning application, which is hoped will help stop these problems, has itself caused objections from nearby tile firm Hulme and Potts over asbestos.
A council report that the planning committee will see details the objections and says: “Asbestos fibres and lagging has been found on the site, some of which is close to the Hulme and Potts building.
“Concerns over welfare of tenants, staff and visitors to the building. No further work should be carried out until all asbestos material has been removed and no further hazard is present.”
The ‘early works’ application, that would ready the area for further development, also seeks to divert sewers and build on site storage facilities, offices and parking for contractors.
It is recommended for approval with council planning officers saying none of the concerns raised are sufficient grounds for refusal.
Their report says: “In view of the nature of the proposed ‘early works’ application, on the basis of the submitted information, in the absence of objections from relevant consultees the proposal is considered acceptable.”
The deliberate fires at the site happened on Saturday, August 26 and Sunday August 27 and were attended by firefighters from Whitehill, King Street and Offerton stations.
Steve Holland, crew manager at Whitehill, says a request has been made to make the site more secure and added: “We ask people to stay out of this site and to not start any unnecessary fires.”