Conversion Of An Agricultural Building To One Dwelling,| Sowerby Road, Inskip-With-Sowerby, Preston, Lancashire, PR3

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 residential redevelopment f the site.

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 between 1994 and 2002 when two buildings were present on the site.

A number of ponds were noted within 1250m of the site, evidence of in-filling was noted for two of the ponds.

The planning history of the site was reviewed as part of the desk based research and the reports associated any previous application located and studied, no salient information was sourced.

The published geological maps identified the site as being underlain by Devensian TIllwhich in turn were underlain by the Sidmouth Mudstone Formation. 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 identified a pond to the south of the site

On completion of the desk based research a site reconnaissance visit was undertaken, this confirmed the site was occupied by two barns.

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 whilst there was the potential for made ground to be present on the site, as there will be no landscaped areas associated with the development it was concluded that there were no credible pollution linkages and no further works were warranted.

The report was submitted alongside the application, the recommendations accepted by the local authority and permission granted.