anaerobic digestion facility at coleshill … · circa 48,500 tonnes of biodegradable organic waste...

Anaerobic Digestion Facility Land at Coleshill STW, Warwickshire

Design and Access Statement June 2013

ANAEROBIC DIGESTION FACILITY AT

COLESHILL SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS, COLESHILL,

WARWICKSHIRE

Planning Application

Design and Access Statement

June 2013



CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1

2. SITE CONTEXT .......................................................................................................... 3

3. DESIGN STATEMENT ................................................................................................ 5

Built Development ................................................................................................... 5

Site Layout .............................................................................................................. 8

4. ACCESS STATEMENT ............................................................................................ 10

Vehicular Access .................................................................................................. 10

Emergency Access ............................................................................................... 11

Public Access ........................................................................................................ 11

5. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 12



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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 This Design and Access Statement (DAS) accompanies and supports a planning

application made to Warwickshire County Council (WCC) for the proposed

erection and operation of an Anaerobic Digestion facility to process and manage

circa 48,500 tonnes of biodegradable organic waste per annum at Coleshill

Sewage Treatment Works, Coleshill, Warwickshire. The application is submitted

by Severn Trent PLC (hereby referred to as Severn Trent).

1.2 Section 42 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (the 2004 Act)

substitutes Section 62 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (the 1990 Act)

and requires that a statement covering design concepts and principles and

access issues is submitted with a planning application for certain types of

development. Section 42 also inserts a new Section 327A into the 1990 Act,

which prohibits, among other things, a Local Planning Authority (LPA) from

entertaining an application unless it is accompanied by a design statement and

an access statement, where required.

1.3 The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Circular

01/2006: Guidance on Changes to the Development Control System (June

2006), outlines the requirement for Design and Access Statements to accompany

planning applications for certain types of development. This requirement came

into force in August 2006. The Circular states that a DAS is required for all

planning applications, except for a listed few, including engineering or mining

operations. Therefore, this DAS has been prepared in relation to the proposed

development of an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility at Coleshill Sewage

Treatment Works site (hereby referred to as Coleshill STW).

1.4 This DAS provides an explanation of the concepts and principles addressed in

reaching the final design of the scheme, as well as identifying how all users will

have safe and convenient access to buildings and spaces within the

development. The purpose of the DAS is to assist those assessing the



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application, in particular the decision making authority (in this case WCC), to

better understand the design and access rationale involved in developing the

proposals.

1.5 A major part of a DAS is the explanation of how local context has influenced the

design. In this case, however, the design process has focused more on the

operational requirements for the structures used, their external appearance and

the industrial context in which they are sited.



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2. SITE CONTEXT

2.1. The proposed site is located at Coleshill STW in Coleshill to the north of

Warwickshire. It is accessed from Edison Road, which links to Hams Hall

Distribution Park and then on to the A446 and the M42. The site is located

immediately to the north of Coleshill at OS grid reference SP 19664 91273. It is

located in the District of North Warwickshire and within the boundary of Coleshill

Town Council.

2.2. The site, including access roads through Coleshill STW, measures approximately

3.2ha. The STW site is bounded to the east by Coleshill Parkway Railway Station

and the Coleshill Rail/Freight Terminal; to the south by the Birmingham-Leicester

railway line, and beyond that the Coleshill Industrial Estate; to the west by the

A446 Lichfield Road and the Birmingham - Derby railway line; and to the north by

the Hams Hall Distribution Park. Running along this boundary is the outfall

channel for treated water from the much larger Minworth STW, 3km upstream,

which joins the River Tame at the far eastern end of the Coleshill STW site.

2.3. The proposed access to the AD site will be via the existing STW access from an

unclassified road which links to Edison Road within the Hams Hall Distribution

Park. Vehicles will use the same access into and out of the site although the site

has been designed with a one-way system to minimise vehicle conflict and turn-

around times, therefore, vehicles will travel through the site in a clockwise

direction. This will improve traffic management to and from the public highway.

2.4. The nearest residential receptors surrounding the site are situated on Board

Cottages 0.5km to the west, properties on Gorsey Way 0.6km to the south west,

Spring Farm 1.4km to the north west and Blythe Mill 1.4km to the east. There are

numerous industrial units neighbouring the site to the north and south. The site is

not covered by any international or national designations.



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2.5. The site has been selected as it offers excellent proximity to the sources of

waste; safe and convenient access to the public highway; close proximity to

agricultural markets for the end product; few receptors; and excellent proximity to

the major transport network leading to the main conurbations of Warwickshire

and surrounding Counties, being within just a few miles of three major arterial

routes. The use of these roads will dramatically reduce the use of minor country

roads by HGV’s. Thanks to its location within the County, Severn Trent believes

the site selected will offer significant savings in terms of waste miles travelled.



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3. DESIGN STATEMENT

Built Development

3.1 The built development will comprise 5 digestion/storage tanks, a waste reception

building, site office and welfare facilities, biofilter and scrubbing system (for

filtration of the air in the reception building), weighbridge, 2 gas engine units,

transformer, energy crop storage area and feeder, access roads, and a car

parking area (as shown on Site Layout drawing number P035-001).

3.2 The layout of the site has been designed to meet operational, amenity

requirements and to ensure that the proposal does not detrimentally affect the

continued STW operations of the Coleshill site. The reception building and tanks

are agricultural in their appearance, although are also complementary to an

industrial setting. They will be coloured dark green in order to minimise their

visual impact.

3.3 The digestion and storage tanks will have a diameter of approximately 28m. The

tanks would be

cylindrical in shape to a

height of approximately 8

metres from which point

they would rise in a

conical fashion to a point

at approximately 16

metres high. They would

be constructed of

concrete walls to 8m,

which will be sheet clad,

while the roofs of the biogas collecting tanks are constructed of a double

membrane - the internal membrane rises and falls with the biogas, while the

Figure 1 Digester and storage tanks at Cassington



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outer sheet is constantly inflated, providing protection against the elements

(Figure 1).

3.4 The reception building and the control and panel rooms would have a combined

footprint of approximately 1,430m2 with a ridge height of approximately 13

metres. The height of the reception building is required in order to accommodate

the tipping height of Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCV’s) and bulkers which

deliver the imported waste. The waste delivery vehicles deposit the waste into

one of a pair of solid waste bunkers, tipping the body of the vehicle to unload,

requiring at least 7m of clearance. The building would be steel framed, with

profiled metal sheet cladding, the design of which is similar to agricultural and

industrial buildings.

3.5 The energy crop silage storage area will have a footprint of approximately

2000m2 and comprise 3m high concrete walls. Whilst silage is being stored, it will

be sheeted for protection.

3.6 Air extracted from the reception building will be passed through a wet scrubber

(which removes hydrogen sulphide from the air) and a bark and woodchip

biofilter. The biofilter will comprise concrete walls to approximately 3m high and

be filled to approximately 2.5m depth with bark and woodchip.

3.7 The site office and welfare facilities will be housed within three pre-fabricated

units located to the southeast of the reception building, close to the haul road and

entrance to the reception building for security and easy access for visitors. Car

parking spaces will be provided adjacent to the site office for staff and visitors.

3.8 In terms of scale and mass, the site has been designed to minimise its footprint

and height as much as possible, however ultimately this is controlled by the

process and proposed capacity of the facility. The largest individual aspect of the

development is the reception building. Required to accommodate the tipping of

large waste vehicles, the height is minimised as much as possible taking account

of the safe tipping height of the largest vehicles and it is designed to have an



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appearance which is sympathetic to this industrial location. It will also be painted

in a non-reflective dark colour to reduce its visual impact and make it more in

keeping with the wider landscape (Figure 2).

Figure 2 View to existing AD facility at Cassington

3.9 The tallest aspects of the development are the digestion and storage tanks and

the exhaust stack for the CHP engines, which rise to approximately 16m and

18.5m respectively above the surrounding ground levels. In terms of the tanks,

their roofs are conical, which reduces the bulk of the tank and therefore

minimises their appearance and visual impact. The tanks have an agricultural

appearance to them, resembling silos or similar storage facilities (Figure 2). In

fact, it is not uncommon to find AD facilities on farms. It is therefore anticipated

that the proposed development will not look out of keeping in the proposed

Green Belt location and would be similar in scale and mass to the adjacent

industrial units.

3.10 Any lighting required on-site for safe working outside of daylight hours,

particularly during the winter months, will have hoods to direct light downwards

and into the site, thereby minimising light spill and pollution.



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3.11 The site will be surrounded by a 2.4m high security fence which will be

sympathetically landscaped and painted a dark green colour in keeping with the

other buildings and structures within the site (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Typical 2.4m high fencing utilised at Agrivert sites

Site Layout

3.12 The site layout is primarily designed around the operational requirements of the

facility, however certain aspects are designed to minimise potential

environmental or amenity impacts. For example, the built aspects are designed

to be located adjacent to the surrounding industrial buildings in order to reduce

the overall visual impact of the development and prevent it standing out as an

unusual feature in the landscape. The reception building and ‘busy’ areas for

vehicle movements have been located furthest from the industrial and residential

receptors as possible.

3.13 The silage clamp will be located towards the northwest of the site and will sit

behind a grass seeded bund so the concrete is not fully visible. The main built

structures of the site will be sunk down into the existing ground levels, where

possible, which will reduce visual impacts. The existing mature trees which line

the haul road will break up views from the train line.

3.14 The aspects of the development which have the propensity to generate the most

noise disturbance are HGV movements and the gas engines. The design has

incorporated features which aim to reduce their impact on nearby receptors, such

as positioning within the site as mentioned above and the gas engines being



9

housed within acoustic containers. HGV movements and their associated noise

impact will be limited to the proposed hours of operation:

• 07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday

• 07:00 to 16:30 Saturdays; and by exception

• 08:00 to 16:30 Sundays and Bank Holidays as required.



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4. ACCESS STATEMENT

Vehicular Access

4.1 Access to the site and vehicular movements around the site are important

aspects, which must be designed to safeguard against conflict between other

vehicles utilising the STW site and the surrounding highway users, as well as

pedestrians.

4.2 The AD site will be accessed via an existing access from an unclassified road

which connects to Edison Road. The access currently serves the STW site

together with industrial and business uses. A Transport Statement (compiled in

liaison with the Local Highway Authority) accompanies the application in Section

7 and concludes that the access is acceptable for the proposed purposes and

frequency of use.

4.3 Several different vehicle types will use the facility. The majority of vehicles

accessing the site will be Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCV’s), bulkers and

tankers, importing biodegradable organic waste for processing. These vehicles

will enter the site, using the weighbridge before progressing to the reception

building. Waste collection vehicles access the reception building through an

entrance on the south side of the building and then exit through the north side of

the building. Pedestrian and HGV movements have been segregated by the

installation of separate access points to the building.

4.4 Staff and visitors, would access the site via the same route as HGV’s, parking

within the designated parking area adjacent to the site office and from here

accessing the site office and site on foot. A separate pedestrian access is

provided to the reception building to minimise conflict with RCV’s, bulkers and

other operational vehicles.

4.5 A loading shovel will be used on site to transport energy crop silage from the

storage area in the north-western part of the site, to the feed bunker located



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between the two primary digesters. The silage storage area and feed bunker

have been located within close proximity to each other to prevent conflict

between the loading shovel and other users of the site.

4.6 The digestate, produced as a result of the AD process, will be transported from

the site in sealed transport tankers. These tankers will enter or exit the site via

the same site entrance and following the site traffic management system, they

will collect digestate from the digestate loading bay on the eastern side of the

reception building. Once loaded, they will deliver the digestate to neighbouring

farms for spreading as a fertiliser.

Emergency Access

4.7 Emergency services vehicles would be able to access the site via the existing

access on Edison Road. They would then be able to enter the site using the main

entrance.

Public Access

4.8 The site is an operational waste facility and as such it is not anticipated that

members of the general public will access the site. However, members of staff

and visitors will be accessing the site.

4.9 Health and Safety procedures are strictly implemented at the site and therefore

pedestrian access will mainly be by staff who are trained in Health and Safety

and have undergone a site induction. Visitors will be accompanied by a member

of staff or, if necessary, required to undergo a site induction themselves.



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5. CONCLUSION

5.1 This proposal for an AD facility at Coleshill STW is designed to provide organic

waste treatment opportunities to contribute to the management of waste within

Warwickshire and surrounding Counties.

5.2 The design of the proposed development has been formed taking into account

the context of the local setting of the site, on-site constraints and operational

requirements. The built aspects have been designed and positioned

sympathetically given the landscape character of the area and the proximity to

sensitive receptors. It is therefore considered that the scale, siting, appearance

and overall design are considered to be appropriate to the environment in which

the buildings are proposed and their appearance in the wider landscape will be

acceptable.

5.3 Access to and the management of traffic around the site have been considered

and designed with regard to the scale, number and frequency of vehicles utilising

it; pedestrian use; and the associated health and safety issues for an operational

waste facility.

Rev Description Date By

Notes.

Scale @ A3

Job no.

Title

Drawn by/Checked by Date

Dwg No. Revision

Project

Agrivert Limited

The Stables,

Radford,

Chipping Norton,

OX7 4EB

Tel 01608 677 700,

Fax 01608 677 711,

email [email protected]

Anaerobic Digestion Facility

Coleshill

Traffic Management Plan

P035 004

1:1000 JM 28.01.13

Flare

Biofilter

Staff &

Visitor

Parking

Site Offices

Reception

Building

CHP Units &

Associated

Equipment

Entrance

Exit

Existing

Site

Structure

Existing

Site

Structure

Existing

Site

Structure

Existing

Site

Structure

W

e

ig

h

b

r

id

g

e

Existing

Communications

Mast

Existing

Communications

Mast

Scrubber

Weighbridge

anaerobic digestion facility at coleshill … · circa 48,500 tonnes of biodegradable organic waste...

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