HILLINGDON UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN - London Borough ...

Damaged;
Land west of Springwell Lane, Harefield.
Park Lodge Farm, Harefield.
Harefield Halt/Disused Railway, Harvil Road, Harefield.
Harefield embankment off Harvil Road, Harefield.
Willow Piggeries, Accommodation Lane, Harmondsworth.
Stanwell Moor Road, Harmondsworth.
Land between the Frays River and the Grand Union Canal and north of the Slough Arm, Cowley
Peachey.
New Year’s Farm, New Years Green Lane, Harefield.
3.37 The definition of derelict land is "land so damaged by industrial or other development that it is
incapable of beneficial use without treatment". This includes worked out minerals excavations which are
not subject to enforceable planning conditions or other arrangements which provide for their restoration.
Furthermore, when taking into account Government advice relating to the development of contaminated
land, a number of additional sites can be regarded as derelict [see the London Borough of Hillingdon
‘Derelict and Damaged Land Survey’ (1993)] where the land has been put to some marginal use (e.g. horse
grazing). This is because the land is thought to be generating landfill gas, or the soil is contaminated, or
thought to be a source of groundwater pollution (or a combination of these factors). It is not thought that
any land in the Borough has degenerated into a derelict condition for reasons other than quarrying or
disposal of waste.
3.38 For the purposes of the plan, damaged land is defined as land that has been developed for
quarrying or waste disposal uses and whose current condition is significantly worse than its original state,
but is excluded from the definition of derelict. The definition of degraded is as for damaged land, but the
reasons for its deterioration are not related to quarrying or the disposal of waste. Although it is thought
there is degraded land in the Borough, it is far more difficult to identify. The Council will seek to identify
and survey all degraded land as resources allow. In the interim, derelict and damaged land policies will
also be applied to proposals involving land recognised as degraded, as far as this is appropriate.
3.39 In the majority of cases within the Borough, particularly where land is derelict, land management
can only tackle the symptoms, i.e. the physical signs of dereliction, and not the underlying causes, such as
landfill gas generation, contaminated soils and differential settlement. To tackle these, an active approach
is required by those parties seeking improvements to the condition of the land that would normally require
planning consent. Such major works usually involve a significant, if temporary, impact on local residents
in the form of odours, heavy goods vehicle movements, dust, noise, etc. In such cases, the Local Planning
Authority would normally seek to ensure that the reclamation scheme would successfully deal with the
underlying causes of dereliction/damage in order to justify this temporary impact and that satisfactory
aftercare arrangements were in place to ensure that any post-restoration problems are dealt with and the
land does not revert back to a damaged/derelict state. An integral part of balancing the benefits/disbenefits
of any scheme would include the submission of environmental surveys to allow a proper assessment of the
existing on-site regime.
OL22 PROPOSALS RELATING TO DAMAGED, DERELICT AND OTHERWISE DEGRADED
LAND SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ASSESSMENT OF ITS CURRENT CONDITION
AND OF ANY ADVERSE EFFECTS ON ADJACENT LAND. SUCH AN ASSESSMENT SHOULD
ALSO INDICATE, AS FAR AS IS PRACTICABLE, MEASURES THAT WOULD NEGATE OR
CONTAIN THE CAUSES OF THE LAND'S UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF THE LAND.
OL23 WHERE APPROPRIATE, THE LOCAL PLANNING AUTHORITY WILL SEEK TO
ENSURE THAT SCHEMES TO RESTORE/RECLAIM DAMAGED, DERELICT AND
OTHERWISE DEGRADED LAND INCLUDE PROVISION FOR A PERIOD OF AFTERCARE
CONTINUING FOR FIVE YEARS AFTER THE COMPLETION OF RESTORATION WORKS.
SCHEMES SHOULD PROVIDE FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE RESTORED LAND,
POLLUTION CONTROL MEASURES, AND THE CORRECTION OF ANY EMERGING
London Borough of Hillingdon Unitary Development Plan