Lunar wins retrospective harbour consent
Lunar Freezing and Coldstorage Factory in Fraserburgh's Shore Street has been given retrospective planning consent for an extension and partial change of use to storage distribution at its harbour premises.
The decision was taken at the this week's meeting of the Banff and Buchan Area Committee following a site visit made earlier in the month.
Officials had recommended councillors approve the proposal, despite the fact that there is an unresolved objection from Fraserburgh Harbour Commissioners and against which material objections have been lodged.
The application sought approval for two small lean-to extensions, for the change of use of a building located to the north of the fish factory and for the installation of several items of plant and equipment along the eastern side of the main factory building and on a flat section of the roof.
It was also proposed to make use of an existing access door, on the Shore Street frontage, to permit access into the pelagic processing area by forklifts for delivery purposes. Currently a condition of a planning permission relating to these premises prevents the use of this door for loading/unloading.
Among representations against the application was one from the Harbour Commissioners who claimed that an area of land immediately to the north of the main factory belongs to them and as it is required for the public use of the port should be excluded from the consideration of the application.
The remaining two letters raise concerns regarding disruption to the sewage and drainage on Shore Street, parking on Shore Street which, should it result in the blocking of the street, would delay the emergency services having access to part of the harbour, and noise resulting in sleepless nights, smells which are putrid and loss of attractive harbour outlook.
Concerns were also raised regarding the use of a door from which loading and unloading had been barred under a previous planning application.
However, in a subsequent application submitted in 1998 for an extension to a cold store the Area Committee granted full planning permission for that development subject to conditions, one of which the committee itself imposed - in addition to those conditions recommended by officers - which stated that no loading/unloading shall take place at any time through the existing door onto Shore Street.
However, the applicant said that this door is now used on a more regular, daily basis for fork lifts carrying bins, packaging, cages, raw material, ice pans, pallets etc.
The applicant also states that, following Lunar taking over the factory in October 2006, the whitefish department was introduced in order to make the factory financially viable, with the result that this door is the only vehicular access into the pelagic processing area.
The applicant had stressed that this roller door is vitally important to the running of the pelagic factory and that unfortunately the factory could not operate without it.
It was further stated that mainly electric fork lifts are used on site which create very little noise, apart from a Health and Safety requirement for a reverse bleeper.
In light of these concerns, officials recommended the curtailed use of this door, however, the applicant pointed out that a condition restricting the use of this door to between the hours of 0700 and 1800 hours, Monday to Saturday only, would tie in with an existing condition, prohibiting the parking of refrigerated vehicles in a dispatch area outwith these same hours, which forms part of the same cold store planning permission when the condition regarding this roller door was imposed.
"The applicant considers that the amount of general street noise during these times, not associated with the Lunar factory, would not increase as a result of the use of this roller door," stated the report.
Officers recommended that the committee grant full planning permission subject to conditions relating to the usage of the shutter door, noise levels and specific operating hours for vehicles, which was agreed by councillors on Tuesday.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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