It appears developers of a new commercial building in Hereford did not investigate whether the site was contaminated before building it and letting it out to a martial arts centre.
A Freedom of Information request to Herefordshire Council revealed that three conditions to the planning permission for Unit 11 of Thorn Industrial Park in Rotherwas, to the southeast of the city, were not “discharged”, that is, met.
At the behest of the council’s environmental health officer, these required the developer Philip Collins to submit for council approval a plan to investigate, and if necessary act to address, any contamination at the site before building work started.
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The work included demolishing a smaller brick-built store, described by an objector to the plan as a “decontamination building” used by the Rotherwas Munitions Factory which occupied much of what is now the Rotherwas industrial estate during both world wars and after.
Conditions relating to the investigation of ground contaminants, thought to include unexploded ordnance as well as harmful chemicals used in their manufacture, have featured in many of the planning decisions enabling redevelopment of the area, which is still ongoing.
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On the Thorn Industrial Park case, Herefordshire Council said it “would consider the expediency of serving a breach of condition notice” against the developer, but added: “No formal enforcement action has been taken.”
One of the current occupants is Tactical Jiu Jitsu. It and Mr Collins were approached for comment.
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The unnamed submitter of the FOI request also asked: “If one or more conditions have not been discharged, is it permissible for the building to be used as a publicly accessible martial arts / fitness centre, or would all activities at the building have to cease until the conditions are discharged?”
To this the council replied: “There is nothing to prevent its use at this time.”
A separate condition requiring investigation into the site’s archaeology was successfully discharged in June 2022.
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