North Lanarkshire refuses clinical waste treatment facility in countryside location

North Lanarkshire Council has refused, against officer advice, a 34,000tpa clinical waste treatment facility at a former opencast coal site near Easthill and Shotts. The proposal was considered an inappropriate and unjustified industrial use within a Rural Investment Area which would result in negative impacts on local amenity and the environment. Furthermore the development failed to comply with national policy, particularly on locational aspects, and there were no wider benefits or material considerations which would justify a departure from this national or development plan policy. Officers had recommended that the proposed development was contrary to the development plan but that there were overriding material considerations and the application should be approved.