FAMILIES of children with additional needs now have their hopes for a day centre resting in the hands of Scottish Ministers – after Councillors voted on Tuesday to give the proposals their support.
Antares Property Development Ltd were seeking full Planning permission for the change of use of land and for the erection of an early learning and childcare facility at Coneyhatch. The centre would be built by Antares then passed to the charity OaKley ASN who would operate it.
No-one contests the need for the facility offering safe learning amenities and sensory rooms which the local authority does not have the resources to provide.
Concerns raised by planners about the out of town location and transport and access issues were quickly discounted. The huge stumbling block for the application was an objection by the Health and Safety Executive – because of proximity of and potential risk to users from the Ineos Forties Pipeline.
Back on the agenda – It was all about the matrix
Members of the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee deferred their decision at their July meeting as they wanted more information from the HSE.
The proposals were back on the agenda on Tuesday, with Richard Lomax of the HSE attending to explain their approach. This, he said, was applied via a matrix, looking at both the classification of the development and its location in the zones of the pipeline corridor.
Councillors were shown slide of the location and heard the facility was risk classified as sensitivity level 3.1 because the children attending have additional support needs, so were deemed a vulnerable group of people.
Slides showed the location of the proposed centre sitting in the green, middle zone of the corridor.
And the matrix below, shows the impact of a 3.1 classification. Councillors heard other public facilities would be classed as level 2 – including the Gymnastics Club which have proposals for the same location.
Linda Cross addressed the committee as the developer – but also as an oil industry professional with qualifications and experience in petroleum engineering and a good understanding of pipeline operation and safety.
She described the risk of the pipeline being exposed, its thick steel pierced and its contents ignited as ‘one in a million’. And she said this risk would be mitigated.
”We all want to protect our children,” she said. ”The biggest mitigating factor is the ratio of adults to children. Our worse case scenario is one to three, but one to one is more likely.
Ms Cross added: ”These are not disabled children, they can walk, they could walk through the wood if that was required.”
Balancing the need and the risks
Cllr Alan Turner said he wanted the committee to accept the advice given by HSE and the recommendation of officers to refuse permission.
”We have to recognise the experience and competency of what the HSE are saying and therefore I would move to accept the officers’ recommendation,” he said.
He quickly found a seconder in Cllr Wendy Agnew.
But Cllr Dawn Black said she had listened carefully to the discussions about risk – and about the imapact of the classification of the users – she said if it had been a public facility it was acknowledged it would be a level two.
”It is simply due to the fact that it is for vulnerable people, people with special needs, that it is level three,” she said.
”On balance for me, the need for this facility outweighs that one in a million risk. And, as described by speakers, this will be mitigated for. There will be robust mitigations – there will be robust evacuation plans put in place and there will be good staff ratios between the young people and the adults supervising them. That risk can be mitigated.”
And, producing a string of policies in support of her stance, Ms Black said she wanted to support the application. She quickly found a seconder and support from colleagues. The application was granted permission by the committee in a vote with seven votes in favour to four against.
One more hurdle for OaKley
Because the committee granted permission contrary to advice by the HSE, the application will now be referred to the Scottish Government, who have 28 days in which to decide if they want to ‘call it in’ for further scrutiny.
A recording of the full discussion is now available online – on both the Council’s YouTube page and on the meeting agenda page