"...chewed by a dormouse, had a central part to play in a High Court dispute over a controversial housing development in South Devon", ran a story in the Plymouth Herald and PlanningResource this week.
Here are Straitgate's dormice:
It is simply staggering that at the Blackhill / Venn Ottery Quarry Liaison Meeting earlier this week, a representative from Aggregate Industries was merrily talking about wanting to start earthworks at Straitgate Farm in the Spring/Summer of next year - start grubbing up 2km of ancient hedgerows - when virtually no appropriate mitigation planting is in place - for a species protected by European law; for a species on the brink of extinction.
 |
| BLACKDOWN HILLS AONB |
At the same meeting, another AI representative claimed that applications to work Straitgate Farm and extend Blackhill for another 5 years were still "likely to be resubmitted" - but that was some months away yet; slightly different timing from what the company was previously saying. He also claimed that if Blackhill wasn't permitted, the company would seek to truck Straitgate material 23 miles to Hillhead - not Rockbeare - for processing; some 2.5 million miles in total; something the company had previously said "may be feasible, but would generate a massively greater quantity of CO2 emissions" 8.48; something obviously at odds with how environmentally-friendly the company says it is:
Our transport emissions are at the lowest level since we began reporting in 2008 #sustainability pic.twitter.com/2cKCgQHLD8— Aggregate Industries (@AggregateUK) July 25, 2016
And what of Penslade near Uffculme? Well, apparently:
Penslade is 10-12 years away - we're not even thinking about that yet
Which is a strange thing for AI to say, because Straitgate has little over 3 years' worth of material - even if the company could win 1.2 million tonnes above the water table. Or is staying above the water table not what AI intends at all?
