Possible breaker's yard given thumbs down by Greenham Parish Council

The application for international vehicle auctioneer Copart UK Ltd – which stores damaged vehicles before selling them at auction – is for a site at the northern edge of Greenham Business Park, next to Greenham Common.
The proposed development would employ 55 people and would have spaces for 3,800 cars, 400 light goods vehicles and 280 motorcycles on a 8.14 hectare site.
Greenham Parish Council complained that both transport and noise statements were missing from the original application, which says of traffic implications: “It is anticipated that there will be 15 two-way vehicle movements a day by large transporters, 20 two-way movements per day by smaller transporters and 35 two-way movements per day by cars and light vans.”
Access to the site would be via Communications Road and Ministry Road. In respect of noise, the application claims the operation would be “relatively quiet compared with other industrial and commercial activities” and would operate between 8.30am and 5.30pm.
At the parish council meeting held recently, Allan Beal raised concerns of possible contamination at the site as a result of what will be stored there. He said: “The planning officers don’t seem to have done any consultation.”
The application states that some of the cars stored, which are written off, would need to be ‘de-polluted’, a process to be carried out at the far north-eastern corner of the site, which it considers “a small element” and “incidental” to the primary use of storing vehicles for re-sale.
Heather Westbrook raised concerns that staff may also have to deal with removing body parts in some serious cases.
She said: “There’s no guarantee that it won’t be the case here.”
The application has also received objection from the Beds, Berks & Oxon Wildlife Trust on the grounds of insufficient information to avoid adverse impacts on two types of legally protected birds in the area, including the woodlark and nightjar.
Senior conservation officer Heather Lewis said: “Information submitted in support of this planning application does not address potential issues relating to noise which may arise from activities on the proposed development site.
“No measures are proposed for how noise is to be controlled.”
Julian Swift-Hook said that it was a “significant application” and “potentially controversial”.
He said: “I think it will be appropriate to have this in front of a planning committee to have this fully discussed by councillors and members of the public.”
Greenham Business Park spokesman Julian May rebutted councillor concerns and said: “We see this is a very positive application for the park, bearing in mind we believe the applicant will be creating up to 50 new jobs and their use fits within our overall vision of attracting high-quality occupiers.
“Clearly, traffic generation will be considered by the planning authority but we understand the expected movements will be well within what is considered acceptable for the park and are likely to be far less than those that could have been generated by other uses relating to previous successful applications.
“With regard to noise, we have been informed that the applicant is undertaking a noise assessment survey as is usually the case with applications of this type.”
The parish council voted to object to the proposal by a majority on the grounds of insufficient information.
The application is expected to be decided by West Berkshire Council before March 5.