The Planning & Regulation Committee of Oxfordshire Council convened on 31 March 2025, and unanimously approved a certificate of lawful existing use or development (CLEUD) for a waste transfer station, and adopted an updated local list of validation requirements for planning applications.

Hazell & Jefferies Waste Transfer Station CLEUD

The committee considered an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness of Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) under Section 191 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990, as amended, for the Hazell & Jefferies Ltd waste transfer station at Rumbolds Pit, Eyres Lane, Ewelme. The applicant claimed the land had been used as a waste transfer station for over 10 years as of 5 December 2023.

David Periam, Planning Development Manager, introduced the application, noting it had been deferred on 25 November 2024, to allow for the submission of further evidence. He advised that the report should be read in conjunction with the initial report and addenda provided on that date.

The committee were informed that the applicant had submitted two statutory declarations on 24 January 2025, to support the claimed uses and operational development to be covered in the certificate and to address the limitations proposed by officers.

Officers had considered comments made by the applicant’s agent regarding the limitation on the tonnage of material and clarification on the numbers of staff resident at the site. To this end, the recommendation was amended with regard to those points:

• The amount of waste received on the Land does not exceed 16,406 tonnes per annum was amended to: The average amount of waste received on the Land during the period from 2013 to 2022 has been 17,561 tonnes per annum; and
• Two mobile trailers, used only for residential purposes, are located on the site. The trailers are in the location as shown in Appendix C of this report. A maximum of four members of staff who work at the Land reside in this accommodation at any one time was amended to: Two mobile trailers, used only for residential purposes, are located on the site. The trailers are in the location as shown in Appendix C of this report. Four members of staff who work at the Land have consistently resided in this accommodation at any one time during the period from 2013 to 2023.

Councillor Freddie VanMierlo, Councillor for the Chalgrove & Watlington Division, submitted a written representation, read to the committee:

Please accept my apologies for not being able to attend this meeting today in person or online. I'd like to express my thanks to the members of this committee for their engagement on this matter of great importance to residents of Ewelme village and the wider area... As we discussed at the previous meeting, resident of Ewelme are badly impacted by the operations at Rumbolt's Pitt by the applicant. It is therefore welcome that the applicant's operations should be regularised through the approval of a new certificate of lawfulness of existing use, placing guardrails that the applicant can be held accountable for and giving residents greater certainty, in particular on the number of HGV movements. I am of the view that further development of this site, beyond the officers recommendations today should only come about through a full planning application. It is right and proper that the planning system is respected, allowing for a full examination of the impact of any development.

David Soloman, Chair of Ewelme Parish Council, thanked the committee and confirmed that both Benson Parish Council and Ewelme Parish Council agreed with the recommendation submitted within the report.

Christopher Stanley, General Manager of Hazell & Jefferies, addressed the committee and expressed disappointment that no meeting had been arranged with the applicant, parish councils and Oxfordshire County Council to discuss the issues from the first meeting. He asked for clarification that the list in the report were limitations and not planning conditions, and expressed surprise that the statutory declarations had not been included.

Members agreed that an informative¹ could be added to clarify that the list in the report were limitations and not planning conditions, and that this would be noted in the minutes. They also agreed that overnight operations were not recommended to be included within the scope of the certificate, and that if these were to take place, this would be a change of use and character of site so a new planning application would be required to be submitted.

Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak proposed the recommendations as in the report, taking into account the amendments by officers. This was seconded by Councillor Bob Johnston and unanimously approved.

Local List of Validation Requirements Update

The committee were presented with a report on the update to the Local List of Validation Requirements for County Matters (Minerals & Waste) and County Development (Regulation 3) Planning Applications submitted to the County Council by Abbie Li, Planning Assistant Apprentice.

Members were informed that no objections had been received to the amendments. It was noted that it was a statutory requirement to update the Local List of Validation Requirements for County Matters and County Development Planning Applications at least every two years, and that if the list had not been revised within two years, then it could not be used for the purposes of validating planning applications.

The committee unanimously approved the recommendation that the proposed Local List of Validation Requirements 2025, as set out in Annex 1 of the report, be adopted to replace the Local List of Validation Requirements 2023.