Plans for a new glass processing factory on Baglan Way, Port Talbot, have been approved this week. The proposals were given the go ahead at a council planning committee meeting that took place on October 11.
The application put forward by Glass Systems Limited was approved unanimously by councillors in attendance who heard proposals for the site that comprises of 11.94 hectares of post-industrial land accessed from Baglan Way.
The site is bound by Baglan Way on its north-eastern and eastern boundaries, Moor Road on its north-western and western boundaries, and the Warburtons Factory on its southern boundary.
The approval could see the glass manufacturing company, which currently operates at a number of sites across south Wales, agglomerate at the one location in Neath Port Talbot. According to the application the move could safeguard around 450 existing jobs in the area as well as creating 150 more. The industrial unit would include a mezzanine office measuring 1,355 sqm used for processing glass that is manufactured off-site. Also included in the plans were proposals for a 129-space car park for staff and deliveries, as well as priority access for pedestrians and cyclists.
While there were some concerns raised around the loss of bio-diversity on the land, the Biodiversity Officer who reviewed the relevant documents confirmed that the proposal was acceptable from a biodiversity perspective. The site is set on flat land that was formerly used as a landfill site, and now supports a range of various habitats, including scrub communities, and neutral grassland. However, a green roof has also been included in the plans to counteract this, incorporating new habitat features such as bare ground, wildflowers and tussocky grassland of value to birds and invertebrates.
A noise impact assessment has been prepared to accompany the application with a condition ensuring that once the specification of the machinery is known, it will not operate above the required noise levels. You can read more of our stories from Neath Port Talbot here.
Read Next:
