Proposed soccer centre, Land To East Of Alexandra Centre Retail Park, Park Road, Oldham, OL4 1SA

Case Study Reference: CS19-03-04

Planning Reference: Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council and https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200351/planning/1866/search_for_an_application

Synopsis:

As the site was within a ‘Development High Risk Area’ as defined by the Coal Authority a Coal Mining Risk Assessment was required to support the planning application in order to demonstrate that the site can be safely developed.

The assessment comprised of the review of the published geology provided by the British Geological Survey (BGS) as well as borehole records in the public domain as well as information held by the Coal Authority.

The published geology was given as boulder clay (Devensian Till)  underlain by Pennine Lower Coal Measures.

A review of the borehole in a previous site investigation report recorded drift to a maximum determination depth of 32mbgl indicating bedrock was in excess of 32mbgl.

Data provided by the Coal Authority identified three mine entries off site as well as the Lower Chamber seam outcrops on the site.

Based on the information obtained the risk form the outcropping seam was discounted as the drift is likely to be in excess of 30m thick.

Based on this it was concluded that the risk from worked seams was negligible and no further works were proposed.

The Coal Mining Risk Assessment is available  as a supporting document (labelled as ‘COAL MINING RISK ASSESSMENT’ dated 19^th March 2019).

As there was no objection raised by the Coal Authority the conclusions of the assessment was accepted.