Sharon Williams Planning Department Redditch Borough Council Town hall Alcester Street Redditch Worcs B98 8AH 27 January 2004. Dear Ms Williams I wish to lodge an objection to the planning application by Popes Lane ByProducts for a 12m chimney stack for their site in Church Lane, Astwood Bank. This chimney is significantly different from the shorter, more slender chimney for which permission already exists. That permission (given in the 1991 appeal) was secured on the basis of a limited usage of the site for particular operations. The proposal being considered now is 50% taller and is wider than the 1991 chimney - I believe that this is because the usage of the site is being altered and developed. The appearance of this larger chimney in the setting that is proposed is unacceptable. Nothing of this size has been on the site before and if accepted it will add to the burgeoning industrialisation of this site. In the past, activity on the site has been piecemeal and small scale. The 1991decision increased the permissible scale of operations and the nature of the work undertaken at the site. However this was at a restricted level with limited implications for the type and size of the plant required. Now the developers of the site have erected modern industrial buildings, metal clad with roller shutter doors, they have put tarmac along Popes Lane and the carpark - all completely at odds with their rural surroundings and historical usage. The proposed chimney is another unwelcome step in changing the appearance of this site. The taller chimney will be more visible to visitors to the area. It will detract from the view that walkers using the nearby footpaths have enjoyed for so long and it will blight the view that local householders have. Secondly the proposed usage of this chimney is a surely a pertinent matter for this planning application. I cannot see any details about the usage included in the application. There must be a difference between a chimney that will occasionally allow steam to billow into the sky and one that might pour thick, dark, ash laden smoke into the atmosphere 24 hours a day 365 days per year. The use of the chimney is vital to judging the appearance of the chimney and its impact on the visual amenity of the area. In terms of judging the potential environmental impact of emissions and the potential loss of amenity of the nearby school playing fields the function of this chimney is crucial. The topography of the site means that the proposed chimney will be around level with the school playing field. The chimney’s valley floor site will mean that air flows around the area are difficult to map but there are no details about where residues from the chimney might fall during whatever operations are planned. I cannot understand how planning permission for this industrial scale chimney can be granted without considering such matters. Finally the continuing industrialisation of this site will entail visits to the site from workers, officials, suppliers of fuel and materials and customers. The access is simply not up to the job. Lorries and cars will access the site along an unmade, single-track lane shared with the first school. There is no footpath and a sharp junction with Church Road with limited visibility. Church Road is busy but narrow road about which I have received unrelated complaints about speeding traffic and congestion. I hope that Councillors will refuse the application on appearance, amenity and access grounds and that if a further application is made more information about the usage of the chimney will be provided. Thank you for your consideration of this matter. Yours sincerely Jacqui Smith MP | 
