1. Has the planning application been submitted?
A planning application for a waste facility and depot at the Former Friern Barnet Sewage Works (Pinkham Way) was submitted on 31 May 2011 to Haringey Council, which is the local planning authority as the site is within its borders.
A planning application for a waste facility and depot at the Former Friern Barnet Sewage Works (Pinkham Way) was submitted on 31 May 2011 to Haringey Council, which is the local planning authority as the site is within its borders.
2. Where can I see the application?
At present it is not possible to see the application because it has not been validated and will not be considered for validation until next year. The application will be made available if and when it is validated by Haringey Council. On validation the application will be available to view on the Haringey Council website at: http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/ as Haringey is the planning authority for the proposal. Copies of the application will also be available to view at the following locations:
- Muswell Hill Library, Queens Avenue, Muswell Hill, N10 3PE, (Haringey)
- Alexandra Park Library, Alexandra Park Road, Wood Green, London, N22 7UJ (Haringey)
- South Friern Library Library, Colney Hatch Lane, London, N10 1HD (Barnet)
- North Tottenham Customer Service Centre, 639 Tottenham High Road, London, N17 8BD (Haringey)
- Friern Barnet Library, Friern Barnet Road, London, N11 3DS (Barnet)
3. What information has been submitted with the planning application?
The application comprises the following documents and plans:
- Planning application form
- Planning application drawings
- Planning, Design and Access Statement, including tree survey
- Environmental Statement (ES) and Non-Technical Summary
- Transport Assessment (see Appendix H of ES, Volume 3)
- Flood Risk Assessment (see Appendix J of ES, Volume 3)
- Report on Community and Stakeholder Engagement
- Health Impact Assessment
- Energy Statement
- Drainage Strategy Report
- Design Code
- Equalities Impact Assessment
The following plans were submitted:
Plan Number | Drawing Title |
Plans for Approval |
Plan 1 | Planning Application Area |
Plan 2 | Existing Site Levels |
Plan 3 | Trees: Existing, Retained, Removed, Replaced |
Plan 4 | Site Ownership Plan |
Plan 5 | Proposed Development Area |
Plan 6 | Parameter Plan: Proposed Ground Levels |
Plan 7 | Parameter Plan: Proposed Building Heights |
Plan 8 | Parking Location (Development Area D) |
Plan 9.2 | General Arrangement Plan – Access |
Plan 9.3 | Vehicle Swept Path Analysis: 16.5m Articulated HGV |
Plan 9.4 | Vehicle Swept Path Analysis: 11m Rigid HGV |
Plan 9.5 | Vehicle Swept Path Analysis: Large Refuse Vehicle |
Plan 9.6 | Vehicle Swept Path Analysis: Large Passenger Car |
Plan 9.7 | Visibility Envelopes |
Plan 9.8 | Plan & Profile |
Plans for Information Only |
Plan 10 | Illustrative Site Layout |
Plan 11 | Illustrative Landscape Plan |
Plan 12 | Existing Site Levels – Cross Sections |
Plan 13 | Proposed Building Heights – Cross Sections |
Plan 14 | Existing Site Sections |
Plan 15 | Proposed Development – Illustrative Sections |
4. Why are you applying for planning permission now when you don’t have more detail for the planning application?
The North London Waste Authority’s contract with LondonWaste Ltd, under which the majority of North London’s municipal waste is managed, ends in December 2014. This contract cannot be extended, and the facility used to treat North London’s waste is nearing the end of its operational life. Therefore to ensure that waste will continue to be managed into the future, we are currently undertaking a competitive procurement process to select a contractor to provide future waste services and facilities.
While our current application does not contain full details of all aspects of the proposals, it would enable Haringey Council to fix a range of parameters on many aspects of the facility, including its overall scale, within which the bidders must all work when developing their proposals for the former Friern Barnet Sewage Works. Following on from this, the successful bidder’s detailed proposal will be submitted to Haringey Council by the bidder and this will be the subject of further consultation by Haringey Council.
Because planning applications for waste facilities can take a long time, we submitted a planning application in May 2011 aiming to avoid the potential for increased costs and disruptions to residents’ waste services that will take place if we do not have replacement services and facilities in place in time.
It should be noted that we are currently sending much of north London’s waste to landfill sites in other parts of the country, but these are rapidly filling up and becoming much more expensive. In addition, the main local facilities we are using are getting old and will need to be replaced. Any planning delays in building replacement facilities could lead to large volumes of waste going to landfill at significant additional costs to local taxpayers.
Related to the need for new waste infrastructure, Barnet Council needs to move its existing Mill Hill depot because Mill Hill East has been identified as an "Intensification Area" where new homes and job creation should be prioritised. Submission of a joint planning application for a waste facility and depot allows us to share all aspects of the application process including public consultation.
The North London Waste Authority’s contract with LondonWaste Ltd, under which the majority of North London’s municipal waste is managed, ends in December 2014. This contract cannot be extended, and the facility used to treat North London’s waste is nearing the end of its operational life. Therefore to ensure that waste will continue to be managed into the future, we are currently undertaking a competitive procurement process to select a contractor to provide future waste services and facilities. While our current application does not contain full details of all aspects of the proposals, it would enable Haringey Council to fix a range of parameters on many aspects of the facility, including its overall scale, within which the bidders must all work when developing their proposals for the former Friern Barnet Sewage Works. Following on from this, the successful bidder’s detailed proposal will be submitted to Haringey Council by the bidder and this will be the subject of further consultation by Haringey Council.
Because planning applications for waste facilities can take a long time, we submitted a planning application in May 2011 aiming to avoid the potential for increased costs and disruptions to residents’ waste services that will take place if we do not have replacement services and facilities in place in time. . It should be noted that we are currently sending much of north London’s waste to landfill sites in other parts of the country, but these are rapidly filling up and becoming much more expensive. In addition, the main local facilities we are using are getting old and will need to be replaced. Any planning delays in building replacement facilities could lead to large volumes of waste going to landfill at significant additional costs to local taxpayers. Related to the need for new waste infrastructure, Barnet Council needs to move its existing Mill Hill depot because Mill Hill East has been identified as an "Intensification Area" where new homes and job creation should be prioritised. Submission of a joint planning application for a waste facility and depot allows us to share all aspects of the application process including public consultation.
5. How can members of the public comment on the application?
Haringey Council will be responsible for determining the application and any comments should be directed to them as the Local Planning Authority. Comments on the application should be submitted through the planning portal on Haringey’s website at: http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/.
Any other queries can be e-mailed to pinkhamwayappteam@haringey.gov.uk.
Alternatively you can send written comments to the following address:
London Borough of Haringey
Development Management Support
Planning and Regeneration
639 High Road
Tottenham
N17 8B
6. What consultation has been undertaken so far?
Prior to submitting the planning application, we held three ‘pre-application’ public exhibitions. A leaflet advertising the exhibitions was distributed to over 11,000 addresses within a 1km radius of the proposed site. Furthermore, the leaflets were not the only means of contact, as set out below. As part of the consultation process undertaken so far, the Authority wrote to local councillors, MPs and residents associations to provide details of the exhibitions. Advertisements were placed in local newspapers for two weeks in advance of the exhibitions, along with a media briefing and the issue of a press release. Following the exhibitions we also distributed a newsletter which is available to view at this link: http://www.nlwa.gov.uk/procurement/pinkham_way/pinkham_way_newsletter
Prior to submitting the planning application, we held three ‘pre-application’ public exhibitions. A leaflet advertising the exhibitions was distributed to over 11,000 addresses within a 1km radius of the proposed site. Furthermore, the leaflets were not the only means of contact, as set out below. As part of the consultation process undertaken so far, the Authority wrote to local councillors, MPs and residents associations to provide details of the exhibitions. Advertisements were placed in local newspapers for two weeks in advance of the exhibitions, along with a media briefing and the issue of a press release. Following the exhibitions we also distributed a newsletter which is available to view at this link:
- 11,160 newsletters were delivered in addressed envelopes to all properties within the 1km radius, in May 2011;
- Additionally 6,649 newsletters were hand delivered to further properties in N10 and N22, as specified by Haringey Council, in May 2011;
- Copies of the newsletter have also been provided to local libraries, schools and residents associations as well as the Pinkham Way Alliance. If you would like additional printed copies of the newsletter, please do let us know.
- In addition to the ‘pre-application’ communication about the NLWA and the Barnet Council’s proposals for the site at Pinkham Way, a separate planning consultation for the North London Waste Plan has also carried been out. This is the plan which identifies waste management sites in the north London area. The public consultation on this document, which began in March 2008, closed in July 2011; there is some additional information below, but full details are provided on the North London Waste Plan website at www.nlwp.net.
7. What consultation events will be held?
Haringey Council will be responsible for deciding what consultation events are to be held at the next stage of the planning application process. We understand that at least one public meeting, in the form of a Development Management Forum will be held. The Development Management Forum is an aid to reaching decisions on large or difficult planning applications. The Forum itself does not reach a decision about an application; rather, its purpose is to allow participants to raise issues of concern and to obtain answers to questions about a particular application. Further information about Development Management Forums, including the format, is available on Haringey’s website at: www.haringey.gov.uk
Details of the proposed Development Management Forum on the Pinkham Way planning application will be publicised by Haringey Council when they are known.
8. How will the application be determined?
Once the planning application has been validated by Haringey Council they will hold a period of consultation. Details of the application will be published and members of the public will be given the opportunity to comment on the application. Consultations will also take place with the statutory agencies, utility companies and other council departments.
Following this period of consultation, Haringey Council’s planning department will consider the merits of the application. They will write a report summarising the comments received and the key planning issues involved, and make a recommendation as to whether or not the application should be approved. This decision on whether or not to approve the application will be made by the Council’s Planning Sub Committee. The Committee is made up of elected Councillors, advised by senior qualified professional planning officers. It has been agreed that the application will not be determined by Haringey Council until after receipt of the independent planning inspector’s report into the North London Waste Plan (the spatial strategy for waste in north London) in 2012. This is due to be published early next year (anticipated to be April / May 2012).
9. Will the application be referred to the Mayor of London?
Both the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have been consulted on the Pinkham Way application and the Mayor has the authority to determine the application if he so chooses.
Both the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have been consulted on the Pinkham Way application and the Mayor has the authority to determine the application if he so chooses.
Both the Mayor and GLA continue to be briefed about site specific proposals.
10. What is the timeline for the proposed development?
Subject to appointing a new waste management contractor and securing all of the required planning permissions and environmental permits, the operational start date for the depot is expected to be summer 2015 while the new waste facility is expected to become operational in spring 2016.
11. What happens if the proposals for Pinkham Way don’t secure planning permission?
Waste Facility
No alternative sites to the former Friern Barnet Sewage Works have been identified. Our other sites are already accounted for in our current plans.
We are working alongside our seven constituent borough councils on helping people to reduce their waste and recycle as much as possible, but we still expect a substantial volume of other, ‘residual’ waste that’s left over. The Pinkham Way site is well located for three boroughs, which will help minimise the costs of waste collection services to council taxpayers.
If the waste facility is not built, the costs of waste management will be higher as waste collection vehicles have to travel further to unload (meaning their availability for actual collections is reduced, and there may need to be more vehicles overall). In addition as more waste will need to go to landfill sites in the Home Counties and beyond, additional landfill tax, (which is already anticipated to cost north London authorities £11.3million in 2011/12) will need to be paid. These additional costs will need to be met by local council taxpayers in Haringey and adjoining Boroughs (including Barnet, Enfield, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Islington, Camden). Additionally, there will be more traffic travelling greater distances to other waste treatment facilities.
LB Barnet Vehicle Depot
The London Borough of Barnet has a need to relocate its depot currently located in Mill Hill in order to free up a key housing development site. Pinkham Way has been identified as being the only suitable piece of land currently owned by the council to base its refuse and recycling fleets. If the application does not secure planning permission, the council would need to find and either lease or rent an alternative site for the vehicle fleet, which would potentially be more costly and provide less security than developing a dedicated depot on a council owned site.
12. What are the benefits of this development to the local community?
The Pinkham Way site which is a former sewage treatment works, has been derelict for many years as no-one has found a viable use for it. This scheme is an opportunity to remediate the site and bring it back into beneficial use; the site is designated for employment use as well as nature conservation.
A waste facility at Pinkham Way would create as many as 50 - 60 long-term jobs locally, including highly skilled engineering and management posts. There would also be opportunities for learning and development, enabling employees to pursue a career in environmentally beneficial industries. Many people talk about the new ‘green economy’ and the need to create jobs associated with this sector – the NLWA’s proposals are one practical measure that will put the area at the forefront. We propose to have an education centre too, where the next generation can learn more about the environment and how we can all reduce our impacts on it by managing resources more sustainably than we do now.
Due to its central location, borough waste collection vehicle journeys can be reduced, which will help to save money and reduce environmental impacts.