Plans approved for Birmingham bin lorry 'super facility'

The council had sought planning permission for the new waste depot at Redfern Road which combines the services currently provided from two locations in the city.

And today, Birmingham City Council’s planning committee approved the plans unanimously without comment.

The meeting heard new conditions had been suggested by regulatory services around noise, which have been incorporated into the conditions attached to the approval.

The plans combine the main garage currently located at Montague Street, Bordesley, and current office, welfare and parking facilities at Redfern Road in one location.

This will take the form of a purpose-built, 163 metre-long building at the former site of Atlas Works – with 193 spaces for fleet vehicles.

An officer speaking at today’s planning committee meeting said: “We have an update from regulatory services regarding noise.

“They have requested three additional conditions in respect of noise details.

“[These are] details of plant enclosure at the outdoor heat pump unit and finer details of the substation; details of an acoustic barrier to be located on the site adjoining the residential units.

“And also a site operation plan incorporating good practice measures to minimise noise impacts which should include a vehicle management strategy and schedule of activities to reduce the number of vehicle movements in a given time period on-site between 5am and 7am.

“These three additional conditions are considered appropriate and necessary.”

The council has incurred fines for non-payment of the Clean Air Zone charge following visits to the zone by the waste fleet.

Birmingham’s street scene and parks chief Councillor John O’Shea had said the fleet is intended to be moved into two new depots outside the Clean Air Zone.

Work has already started on one of the projects – at Perry Barr Household Recycling Centre (HRC) – and the Tyseley depot is the second of the two new planned facilities.

The Tyseley facility is intended to in future be powered by the nearby Tyseley Energy Centre to make the site carbon neutral.

In addition, the site will also include infrastructure allowing for the charging of an electric fleet as the council switches from diesel and petrol.

But the building is not set to meet the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) standard of excellent for sustainability due to the costs involved, according to papers included in the application.