Westmorland and Furness Council has this week give planning approval to replace an existing tipping shed at Omega Proteins used for the loading of feathers into a processing plant with a new building that will double the capacity of the existing building.
The existing feather tipping shed allows for one trailer at a time to unload product with the new building enabling two trailers to be processed side by side doubling the capacity with the process takes place within a new fully enclosed building replacing the current deteriorated structure.
The application was put before the Eden area planning committee of Westmorland and Furness Council this week “due to the sensitive nature of proposed developments at a site which attracts significant local interest due to the frequency of occasions on which unpleasant odours are believed to emanate from the site across to Penrith” council planning officers said.
Mr Andrew Watt speaking on behalf of the applicant said the new building would be slightly higher than the existing tipping shed to enable the new galvanised steel building to be constructed over the top of the existing building to enable continued use of the tipping shed during construction. Mr Watt also explained to councillors in the meeting that the new building will have managed airflow to provide odour abatement, with room air flowing to one of the site’s biofilters.
Also speaking against the application was Mr Jeff Thomson of Fresh Air For Penrith who asked the planning committee why it had taken 10 months for the application to come before the committee with the application submitted to Westmorland and Furness Council in November 2023.
Mr Thomson then told the committee that in August the environment agency had received “a near record” 327 odour complaint reports from the Penrith area.
Although the Environment Agency has not linked the 327 reports to any one source in Penrith currently.
Mr Thomson also told the committee that the council currently has another seven or eight ‘live’ planning applications in the councils planning system still to be determined and that residents feel they should be better informed and consulted on what is planned for their neighbourhood.
He also asked how many of the applications are becoming retrospective with work carried out without planning approval due to the length of time the council was taking in determining applications.
Penrith town council had in January said it could not provide a response on the application but then in March submitted its support for the application saying it was materially acceptable and moves the operation to be more technically sound with better odour management.
Penrith Town Council said that two Councillors with technical engineering expertise had visited Omega and offered their expertise in order to assist with solutions for odour abatement.
Following the representation made to the planning committee and a short debate on the application by councillors, Officers recommended to the committee that planning permission be granted for the replacement building.
Councillor Michael Eyles vice chair of the planning committee and ward councillor for Penrith South that also includes the Omega site and Castletown, proposed that the planning committee accept the officer recommendation and approve the application.
Councillors voted unanimously to approve the application.
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