New plans in for explosive storage depot

A site in North Yorkshire could be converted into a depot designed to store explosive material and ammonium nitrate.York and Leeds-based commercial explosives company Brexco has submitted the plans for a ten-acre site on Lightmire Lane in Great Ouseburn.Brexco supplies detonators to the raw materials industry, and the storage facility has been proposed and designed to store imported materials from the EU in order to ensure a reliable supply of explosive to the UK market.The latest documents aim to gain permission to create an explosives storage and distribution place with erection of three floodlit earth bunded storage magazines, one earth bunded sampling ground, a detached storage building, and re-packing shed.Plans were initially submitted last year, but were withdrawn in January and have been resubmitted with a new visual impact assessment.Due to the nature of the goods stored within the development, it would need be located 548 metres from from any kind of institution or gathering place. Accordingly, any such site will always need to be located in open countryside.Active hazardous substances consent plans for the site detail how it would be used for the storage of up to 50 tonnes of explosive and up to 200 tonnes of ammonium nitrate over the course of the year.Plans previously submitted by Brexco for the site, detailed how three bespoke metal storage magazines, specifically designed for the safe storage of explosives would be built on site and enclosed by fencing, and then encircled on three sides by earth bunds which are intended to absorb the energy in the unlikely event of an explosion.At the entrance into the site from Lightmire Lane, the plans said that will be a holding area to allow for security checks, and to ensure the site is secure.The magazines would be alarmed and monitored via security cameras and laid out in a row parallel to Woods Lane with a service road to the south eastLights will also be fitted which will be activated by movement and lightening conductors will also be required as a safety precaution to divert lightning strikes away from the containers.For security response nominated key holders at the site would have to be within 20 minutes’ drive of the storage facility.As the key holders are based at either Brexco or their homes in York then there are certain restrictions on the catchment area in which a new explosives store might be located.