Conversion of an Agricultural Barn to 2 Dwellings, Woodford Lane West, Winsford

Due to the potential for the use of the site as a farm to impact site soils a contaminated land planning condition was attached to the decision notice for the conversion of the agricultural buildings to residential.

The first stage of discharging the condition was to prepare a Phase I desk study report for the site, this assesses the potential for the site to be impacted by contamination from potential sources both on and off the site.

The history of the site and surrounds was researched using a combination of historical Ordnance Survey maps, aerial plates and street level imagery.

The O.S. maps revealed the site was developed prior to the first edition O.S. map with the site being developed over time. A pond was identified to the east of the site which appeared to have been in-filled.

Geological maps identified the site as being underlain by Devensian Till and mudstone.

Data provided by the Environment Agency identified a tank on the site.

On completion of the desk based element a site reconnaissance
visit was undertaken to provide further information on the potential issues on the site. This revealed the site was an active farm with a number of building used to house livestock, the storage of plant, unbunded fuel tank and cement sheeting was noted during the site visit. The pond to the east of the site was inspected and it was clear the pond had not been in-filled.

The tank identified by the Environment Agency was inspected and was confirmed to be a slurry tank.

On completion of the site visit the risk posed by the potential sources of contamination were assessed using a qualitative assessment, this concluded that the made ground on the site, the tank and the past uses of the buildings all had the potential to impact site soils. Based on this further works were proposed which were given in the report.