PLANS to import material to cover a vandalised asbestos pipe have been approved.

The application for Colliers Moss Common Nature Reserve at the Bold Moss Wildlife Site was approved by St Helens Council’s planning committee on Tuesday.

The proposals comprise the restoration of an existing trackway, part retrospective, to import material to cover a vandalised asbestos pipe with a 1.5m capping layer and the formation of an access ramp/new track to the west of the site.

The area of works relates to a stretch north of the railway line from Houghton’s Lane in the west to the Millennium Bridge.

An asbestos pipe which ‘has been subject to vandalism’ runs along the majority of the length of the works area.

Some earthworks have previously been undertaken as part of a prior approval application, however, the scope of the works undertaken fell outside the parameters of the approval.

The site, which is in the green belt, is owned by the Community Forest Land Trust and falls within the Bold Forest Park.

A planning statement and construction management plan has been provided as part of the application.

Planning documents said ‘clean inert soil’ is to be brought onto the site to cover the exposed pipe and reinstate the footpath.

READ > Business seeks to make a real 'social impact' as it launches minibus service

At the start of the committee meeting before the application was heard, chair Cllr Derek Long said: “As a planning committee, we’re not here with the licence to determine things which, whether we like them or not, we’re here to carry out a quasi-judicial function.

“We’re a bit like a court and on that basis we have to follow the law.

“We also have to follow the regulations and we also have to follow case law, so anything which is not coherent or relevant as a planning matter, is not legitimate for us to take into account in our decision making – and if we do take decisions on the basis of material which is not relevant on that basis we can therefore be charged by or appealed against by somebody who is unhappy about that decision.

“So we are very much operating within tramlines, so any material which is not relevant to a planning decision we will ignore and take no notice of – and we have to, that’s our duty.”

The application was approved by the committee.