Bridge of Earn developer receives warning from Perth and Kinross Council over contaminated land
David Gahan, from Bridge of Earn, has been given under 12 weeks to show evidence that he decontaminated a site he developed from potentially harmful chemicals.
Permission was given to David Gahan to build 6 houses plus a dental surgery on the site of a former coal yard.
The permission for the development on Old Edinburgh Road off the A912 was granted nearly 8 years ago.
However, there are now concerns that Mr Gahan and Clackmannanshire based Maplewood Developments, did not fulfil a condition that was added to the consent. The condition stated that all the land on site was to be decontaminated before people were permitted to live in the properties.
The condition read: “Before any residential unit is occupied the measures to decontaminate the site shall be fully implemented as approved by the planning authority. Verification that the schemes proposals have been fully implemented must also be submitted to the planning authority.”
Asbestos was one of the chemicals found on site.
Both Maplewood Developments and Mr Gahan have been served with a breach of condition notice by Perth and Kinross Council.
The breach of condition notice requires Mr Gahan and Mapplewood Developments to submit “verification carried out by an appropriately qualified engineer that all contamination across the site has been appropriately dealt with” in line with the contaminated land report that was sent to Perth and Kinross Council while it was considering the planning application for the properties.
The report sent to the council was prepared by McGregor McMahon consulting engineers on behalf of Mr Gahan. In the report it was suggested that made ground soils on the building site had “elevated concentrations of PAH and hydrocarbons … that pose a risk of harm to human, building and environmental receptors.”
The report also stated “Also, asbestos was analysed to be present within the made ground soils at 0.2m depth at the western corner of the site. Furthermore, metal, PAH and TPH concentrations have been recorded to exceed WRAS guidance criteria for the safe use of plastic water supply pipes within the development. Plant life within the proposed development may also be potentially affected by phytotoxic concentrations of heavy metals within the soil. Amber 1 ground gas conditions have [also] been assessed to be present at the site.”
Maplewood Developments and Mr Gahan must prove that the site was decontaminated by the middle of May.
There are various Environmental Reports you can order through Pali which include information on contaminated land. For more infomation on how to order a report through Pali please contact a friendly member of the team on 0800 023 5030/search@paliltd.com.
Kirsty Rogers, Pali Ltd
