Background
Anderson Acoustics was commissioned by RTK Stamford Ltd to undertake dust and odour assessments for the planning application 2022/0897/FUL, to Rutland District Council (RDC) for Use Class B2 (general industrial) units on a site currently used to store stone and stone residue at Pit Lane, Ketton.
The application site is 8893m² and creates 2865m² of dedicated light industrial space in 24 units. The tenants of the units and activities within had yet to be established and so the impact assessment had to consider planning conditions for B2 uses to manage potential odour and dust emitting uses.
What we did
- Operational Odour Assessment and Mitigation
Odour is assessed considering the source, pathway and receptors following the principles of the Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) “Guidance on the assessment of odour for planning”.
Odour emitting operations under B2 could include brewery, food processing or production, perfume production or other odour emitting activities. Many B2 operations have no detectable odour however.
The light industrial constructions at this site have no extraction flues and so potential significant internal odour producing activity would require an extraction system with flue to be fitted.
With the limited space, external operations are likely to consist of deliveries and associated loading and unloading and so we advised odour significant operations would not be conducted externally.
- Operational Dust Assessment and Mitigation
Operations under B2 could include stonemasonry, MOT testing centres, manufacture of goods, some of which could potentially have dust emissions.
Again, as the light industrial constructions have no extraction flues, potential dust significant internal activity would require an extraction system with flue to be fitted.
Conclusions
As the activities within the B2 use are yet to be established we recommended that planning conditions are attached to the planning permission to require a Dust Management Plan if dust significant activities are to be conducted and an Odour Management Plan if activities with a significant odour potential are to take place.
The light industrial units do not have a flue or extraction system and so dust or odour generating activity requiring extraction would be subject to the gaining of planning approval for the extraction system and associated mitigation measures.
We also undertook a Noise Impact Assessment and concluded that noise should not be a factor in the determination of the planning application, and no specific controls were considered necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms.
Project Progress
Planning was approved in July 2023 and the details can be seen on the Council’s website under 2022/0897/FUL.
