THE APPROVED DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES A 2,304M² INDUSTRIAL BUILDING
72 metres long, 32 metres wide and 10 metres high
Its extraordinary scale sits uneasily with a purpose described largely in broad terms of storage and office space.
The space is vast enough to comfortably house six sea king air-sea rescue helicopters.
This huge and permanent industrial structure forms part of a much larger waste-processing complex occupying an elevated and exposed ridge in otherwise open agricultural countryside above the Roseworthy Valley.
The proposed building is industrial in scale and cannot credibly be described as “agrarian”.
Its enormous scale and altogether inappropriate siting were repeatedly challenged in public objections.
Including through extensive photographic evidence showing the site’s wider visibility and its true relationship with its neighbours, Carn Brea and the wider historic mining landscape.
THE CONCERN IS NOT SIMPLY HOW THE BUILDING LOOKS FROM THE NEAREST ROAD OR FIELD, BUT HOW A STRUCTURE OF THIS MAGNITUDE CHANGES THE VERY CHARACTER OF A MUCH WIDER LANDSCAPE.
The applicant claims planting will soften its appearance within 15 years.
Today’s children will be adults and parents themselves by then.
In any event, much of the existing screening relied upon in the visual assessment lies outside the applicant’s ownership and control, while newly planted trees will take many, many years to provide any meaningful screening on this elevated and exposed site. Full screening is impossible.
The proposal would fragment an existing farm unit and introduce a stark, rectilinear industrial form wholly at odds with the surrounding landscape.
IT IS INCONGRUOUS WITHIN ITS SETTING AND FAILS TO RELATE TO THE EXISTING LANDSCAPE CHARACTER, WHETHER VIEWED FROM NEARBY OR MANY MILES AWAY.
IRREVERSIBLY AND FOREVER.
The landscape would never be the same again.
But the more fundamental question remains:
WHAT EXACTLY REQUIRES A BUILDING THIS ENORMOUS?
Commercial in-vessel composting building (Illustrative example from Studio Blue Architects)
Could this building be intended to accommodate additional composting processes, such as in-vessel composting?
Several objection letters raised this question after the Application Form referred to in-vessel composting, yet no explanation was ever provided as to whether this building was intended for that purpose or why a structure of this extraordinary scale was otherwise required.
A structure of this magnitude is not incidental infrastructure.
