Prior Approval Application For Change Of Use Of Existing Agricultural Building To Form One Residential Dwelling, Neds Lane, Stalmine-With-Staynall, Poulton-Le-Fylde, Lancashire ,FY6

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 erection of a dwelling.  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 initially undeveloped and by 1932 a building was present on the site, further changes were noted on the 1965 map.

Aerial plates indicated the western building had been demolished between 2005 and 2010.

A number of ponds and a gravel pit were noted within 250m of the site.

The planning history of the site was reviewed as part of the desk based research and the reports associated with any previous application 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 formation. No borehole records for the vicinity of the site were available from the BGS.

Data provided by regulatory bodies identified the gravel pit as well as a pond.

On completion of the desk based research a site reconnaissance visit was undertaken, this confirmed the site was occupied by a single storey agricultural building, which at the time of the survey was used for general household storage. The western area of the site was landscaped and there was no evidence of the previous building.

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 none of the potential source of contamination warranted further assessment and the report concluded that only a watching brief was required.

The report was submitted to support the application, the recommendations were accepted and the developed allowed to commence.