Public Inquiry Announced

We have been notified by the Planning Inspectorate that the inquiry will be held at 10am on Tuesday 16 June at Lancaster Town Hall in Dalton Square. The venue will be reserved for 12 days.

Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) Risks Extension

Several complaints have been made to GONW about three Centros applications (08/00864/OUT, 08/00865/OUT and 07/00602/OUT) not being called in, but we have been told that there is nothing GONW can do since the council did not refer any of these applications to GONW as part of the call-in process. However we have not given up and hope to get at least the residential development at the junction of St Leonard’s Gate and Alfred St (08/00864/OUT) called in on air quality grounds as it is likely to result in an extension of the Lancaster Air Quality Management Area as pointed out in the executive summary of Lancaster Council’s 2006 Air Quality Further Assessment (this are only one of the flaws in this ill-considered plan).

When discussing significant exceedences of the 2005 nitrogen dioxide annual mean objective, the summary says ”model results suggest that objective concentrations may be being exceeded in St Leonard’s Gate. There are currently no residential properties along this street and therefore there is no current requirement to declare an AQMA but on the basis of current information the AQMA may need to be extended if any residential property is likely to be developed in this area. In the mean time it is recommended that a diffusion tube is located in this area to provide additional information to compare with the model;”

In fact, an additional diffusion tube established in February 2008 is located at a sheltered housing complex within about 10 metres of the application boundary of 08/00864/OUT and in 2008 this recorded 85% of the legal nitrogen dioxide annual average Limit Value which is above the upper assessment threshold for nitrogen dioxide specified in Schedule 4 of the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2007 and clearly indicates that this area is still at risk of forming part of an extended AQMA as suggested in the 2006 Air Quality Further Assessment. This is without the main Centros development going ahead. If the main development goeas ahead the extra traffic will make things much worse and our planners will have allowed a new residential complex to be built in the polluted environment of an AQMA.

The 2006 Updated Guidance from the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection (NCSA) on dealing with air quality concerns within the development process makes it clear in Fig 1 page 24, that where the effect of a development could cause expansion of an existing AQMA (Note 2), then air quality is a ‘high priority’ consideration. Though the NCSA is not a statutory body it is recognised nationally and internationally for its balanced arguments and response to issues and its integrity. It started life as the Coal Smoke Abatement Society in 1898 and one of the principal editors of this guidance is Professor Duncan Laxen, the head of Air Quality Consultants Ltd, who are Lancaster council's own air quality consultants.

By it’s very nature and close proximity to the existing AQMA, this residential development is likely to result in the extension of the AQMA whether or not the main development goes ahead but particularly if it does. There therefore appears to be no good reason why it should not be considered at the public inquiry dealing with the main application 08/00866/OUT and it’s other associated applications including 07/00602/OUT and 08/00865/OUT.

The following document extracts support the above:

1. Executive summary from the 2006 Air Quality Further Assessment
2. Diagram of Lancaster AQMA edited by the addition of red wavy lines round the application boundary of 08/00864/OUT.
3. The Centros block plan of the proposed buildings which shows 08/00864/OUT as the large green hatched area in the upper half of the plan with St Leonard’s Gate bordering the north west edge of the application boundary.
4. Fig 1 from the 2006 Updated Guidance from NCSA
5. Fig 6 from 2008 Air Quality Progress Report showing new diffusion tube (labelled 6 next to a blue triangle).

Lancaster Council to spend taxpayers money in support of Centros plan

This Lancaster Council 26th March press release supports a private company registered for tax avoidance purposes in the British Virgin Islands. Is this how we want local taxpayers money spent ?

If you wish to complain about this or anything else concerning the costs of the inquiry, we suggest you write to Lancaster Council CEO Mark Cullinan, Director of Regeneration Heather Mc Manus and your local councillor.

At a full council meeting to be held on April 8th 2 pm at  Morecambe Town Hall, Cllr John Whitelegg will put forward a motion for debate which will question LCC expenditure on the inquiry. We fully expect officers to brief councillors prior to the meeting to vote against Cllr Whitelegg's motion. Here is the link for the council meeting. Cllr Whitelegg's  motion is Agenda Item 14.