Liquid petroleum storage unit gets approval

Horsham District Council has approved the storage site

An application seeking consent to store up to 49 tonnes of liquid petroleum gas at a site in West Sussex has been approved.

The application for Four Seasons Fuel, in Coneyhurst Road, Billingshurst, was considered by Horsham District Council's planning committee on Tuesday.

The consent was needed because the two 14-tonne cylinders which would hold the fuel exceed the threshold of 25 tonnes.

The cylinders are already on-site but do not yet have planning permission.

The council received 11 objections to the application, with concerns raised about fire safety risks – a fire at the depot in 2011 saw dozens of people evacuated from their homes.

But officers told the meeting that the Health & Safety Executive – which has to be consulted in such cases – had assessed the risks to the surrounding area's population and found it to be "small" with "no significant reasons" on safety grounds to refuse consent, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Other concerns centred around the effect of smoke and noise on nearby residents, over-development of the site, and road safety.

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