July 21, 2022 12.11 pm This story is over 20 months old

Scrap yard near Boston to be refused

Officers criticise location and suitability
The view of the site from Highgate. | Image: Lincolnshire County Council

Plans for a vehicle dismantling facility in a Boston village are to be rejected by Lincolnshire County Council next week.

The authority’s Planning and Regulation Committee on Tuesday will be asked by officers to refuse V.W Breakers’ plans to change an existing haulage depot at The Old Smithy, Highgate Leverton, into an end-of-life dismantling facility.

In a report before councillors, they said the development would be in open countryside and was “not well located to the market or source of wastes that is intended to serve”.

“The applicant has failed to demonstrate a proven need or sufficiently robust case to justify the establishment of such a facility in this rural location,” said the report.

They added that there had been insufficient evidence that the impacts of noise would be controlled and that already existing corrugated steel fencing, storage containers and trailers on the boundary were “not appropriate”.

“They have an unacceptable visual impact and are incongruous with the rural character and charm of the local area,” they said.

The report said the application was “part retrospective” due to the site already being used to store used car parts that had already been stripped.

The proposed dismantling facility. | Image: Lincolnshire County Council

Under the applicant’s plans the site would instead carry out the breakdown of vehicles, including the draining of liquids, and the removal of usable spare parts.

The equipment to be used on site would include a hydraulic access ramp, liquid decommissioning equipment and small, electrically powered hand tools.

It would operate between 8am-5pm Monday to Friday.

The plans have received objections from Leverton Parish and Boston Borough Councils and two local residents.

Concerns included that the proposal would adversely impact on neighbours, and that it would be better suited to specially-designated industrial areas elsewhere.