Prior Approval For Proposed Change Of Use Of Agricultural Building To A Dwellinghouse, Clay Gap Lane, Out Rawcliffe, PR3

THE PROJECT

Site context.
Practical findings.

In order to demonstrate that after the development the site could not be classified as ‘contaminated land’ under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act a Phase I desk study report was required to support the application for the residential conversion of the existing building. The site was occupied by an agricultural building, the past use of the site have the potential to impact site soils.

A Phase I desk study report assess the potential for a site to be impacted by contamination, this is undertaken by researching the history of the site and the surrounds as well as a review of information held by regulatory bodies and a site visit.

The history of the site and surrounds were researched using a combination of Ordnance Survey (O.S.) maps, street level imagery and aerial plates, this revealed that the site was developed circa 2000 with the 2019 street level image confirming the site was occupied by an agricultural building.

The planning history of the site was reviewed as part of the desk based research and the reports associated with the three previous application and the subject were located and studied, no salient information was obtained

The published geological maps identified the site as being underlain by Devensian Till which in turn were underlain by the Singleton Mudstone Member. As no publicly available boreholes for the areas were available from the BGS no further information on ground conditions could be obtained.

Data provided by regulatory bodies did not provide any further salient information

On completion of the desk based research a site reconnaissancee visit was undertaken, this confirmed the site was occupied by a single storey building which was used as a workshop. A tanl was also noted on the northern boundary of the site.

Once the walkover survey was completed a qualitative risk assessment was undertaken on the potential sources of contamination identified in the desk study report in order to determine if any warranted further investigation, this concluded that the risks posed by the potential sources of contamination were low enough as to not warrant further investigation and a watching brief was proposed.