Stark jobs warning over 100 homes plan
Bryan Copland • Published 26 Jan 2012 09:26
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A BUSINESSMAN has warned that nearly 500 jobs will be at risk if a controversial plan for a 100-house development at Fenton Barns is not given the go-ahead.
DC Watson & Sons, a majority landowner of Fenton Barns, is seeking planning permission in principle for a housing development of up to 100 homes which it says will finance the £5 million upgrade of the drainage system and pumping station which serve some of the 74 homes and more than 30 businesses at the site.
The current sewerage treatment works, installed in 1940, is said to be unable to cope with demand, leaving DC Watson & Sons - which is solely responsible for the system - unable to meet Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) standards. A number of pollution incidents have occurred at the site in recent years.
Work would involve closing down the current station and diverting waste to an upgraded Gullane sewage system.
Planning permission was granted in February 2010 for the required works to the sewerage system. However, a second application - for drainage works and enabling residential development - was rejected by East Lothian Council. A subsequent appeal to Scottish ministers in October 2010 was also dismissed.
The latest application, submitted in December, includes plans for housing - some affordable - and industrial land. It has drawn criticism from some residents with one referring to the situation as the "bouncing bomb of sewerage" in a letter to the Courier.
DC Watson & Sons claims the new application has five major differences from the one previously rejected. Keith Chalmers-Watson, managing director, told the Courier: "This particular application is in the name of DC Watson & Sons, Fenton Barns Ltd which is the company which holds the SEPA discharge consent into West Peffer Burn and covers the entire catchment area of Fenton Barns.
"On the last occasion, there was no maximum number of houses stated. In this application, we've declared the project would be for a maximum of 100. We also have affordable housing on offer, should the council wish to take that up.
"The fourth point is that we've put on offer land for industrial zoning, and the fifth point is that SEPA has a recommended drainage plan which has been passed and approved by the council, and [SEPA] is very keen indeed to see it started."
A pre-application consultation report submitted with the application says the work would "involve significant capital cost", which DC Watson & Sons does not have the means to raise independently.
The responsibility of running the new sewerage system would be handed to Scottish Water upon completion.
In a letter to the Courier, West Fenton resident Martin White called on councillors to "stand firm" against the plans, adding: "Otherwise there will be yet more of a mess coming to Fenton Barns."
He branded the site an "unsightly mess", saying the plans were Mr Chalmers-Watson's "next sortie".
Sandy Steel, Gullane Area Community Council member, said the group was to discuss the issue at its meeting yesterday (Thursday) but expected it would take the same view as it had with the previous application, which it had objected to.
"We'll be making a formal response to the council after our meeting," he told the Courier. "The community council will almost certainly be doing the same as last time, when we said we were opposed to housing in principle - we think it's establishing a precedent. We didn't think it was in accordance with the local plan, we don't think the infrastructure will stand it and the road across to Drem is dangerous enough as it is."
But Mr Chalmers-Watson said the plans had drawn "minimal complaints and concerns" when presented to the public in October.
And he issued a stark warning of the consequences should the enabling development not be granted.
"There are 500 jobs involved here and we haven't got a sewerage system to cope," he added. "We are building businesses all the time and we are not allowed to discharge into the sewerage works. The implications [if not given the go-ahead] are serious. It's going to cause the closure of the businesses."
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