Green concerns fuel application refusal
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North Western Deputy Traffic Corn missioner Mark Hinchliffe refused a second bid by Shane Murphy, trading as Rapid Removals and Storage, to use a site in Glan Conwy as an operating centre after Conwy County Borough Council and neighbouring residents opposed it.
Murphy had held a licence for three vehicles and a trailer based at Mochdra. In 1997 he acquired the lease of a warehouse, a former barn, in Garth Road, Glan Corwy, and applied to use the site as his operating centre. This was granted subject to a number of environmental conditions, but overturned on appeal by the Transport Tribunal. At the same time Murphy's landlord at Mochdra gave him notice to quit and he was granted interim authority to use the Garth Road premises.
Norman Jones, the council's principal environmental health officer, said that when he visited the site there was no audible traffic noise. However, there were homes nearby, and an operating centre would mean noise, fumes, air pollution, vibration and visual intrusion.
The warehouse was in a small valley which had an echo which magnified engine noise.
Refusing the application, the Deputy TO said that in his judgement the warehouse was unsuitable for use as an operating centre on environmental grounds. In particular he had taken account of the nature of the land nearby and its essentially agricultural use.