Another 29 homes have been approved for the Prescot Park development on land next to a hazardous waste site that burned down four years ago.
Knowsley Council’s planning committee granted planning permission for the development next to the former Remondis site off Cables Way on Thursday evening (December 10).
The Remondis site was destroyed in 2016 during a huge fire that saw nearby businesses evacuated and a plume of black smoke spread over neighbouring homes.
But while the site is no longer used for handling hazardous waste, new owners CSG Group had objected to the plans for houses on the next door plot, claiming it would prevent “the efficient operation of a waste management facility” on the site and put 20 jobs at risk.
However, at Thursday’s meeting, the planning committee heard that the former Remondis site was vacant apart from an office building and any return to waste handling would require a new planning application.
A planning officer’s report prepared ahead of the meeting said: “In considering any future planning application (to redevelop the CSG site), the changed character of the area would also be a material planning consideration, as would the presence of planning permissions on adjacent land, such as on this application site.
“In these circumstances, it is considered that the owner of the adjacent (CSG) site would not be unduly prejudiced should planning permission be granted for a residential development of the site currently under consideration.”
Committee chair Cllr David Lonergan also emphasised that the councillors had to make a decision on the application that was in front of them without regard to other applications that might come forward at some point in the future.
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Other public objections focused on the impact of the development on traffic in the area, which one described as a “rat run” for drivers trying to avoid congestion on the motorway.
However, planning officer Mark Quinn said the local roads would be able to cope as Prescot Park Way had been built to deal with 750 homes in the area.
Only one member of the committee, Cllr Carl Cashman, voted against the proposal. During the meeting, Cllr Cashman said he had “big concerns” about the site and especially the possibility that it had been contaminated by the fire in 2016.
However, officers said they did not believe that a significant amount of ash had got onto the site during the fire, and any minor contamination could be remediated as part of conditions attached to the planning approval.
The committee’s decision means planning permission will be granted provided the developer, Stephen Abbott Associates, agrees that 10% of the homes will be affordable.
