Thursday 28 May 2020

DCC says correlation ‘broken’ between aggregate sales and housing completions

Devon County Council has published its 8th Devon Local Aggregate Assessment for the years 2009-2018. It confirms figures we posted in Long term trend in sales of sand and gravel in Devon continues to decline, where we wrote:
Sales of sand and gravel in Devon declined by 10% in 2018, according to figures just released by Devon County Council – from 598,000 tonnes to 541,000 tonnes. Contrast this to the national situation where, according to the MPA, "total sales of land-won sand and gravel increased by 2.9% in 2018”.
At the end of 2018, Devon's sand and gravel reserves (material already with permission to be extracted) stood at 4.885 million tonnes – a drop over 12 months that was greater than the level of sales, after Aggregate Industries "lost" some 700k tonnes or more – as we posted in AI has lost sand and gravel reserves AGAIN, this time at Hillhead.
We also pointed out that:
It is noteworthy that the 2018 sales figure is 23% less than the finger-in-the-air projection DCC made in the 6th LAA.
DCC’s LAA is now under new authorship. What else does the report tell us?

Section 4, on "Future Aggregate Supply", has seen some changes since the last edition. We learn that "correlation between land-won aggregate sales and housing completions in Devon… has been broken", which DCC concludes "could indicate an increase in alternative methods of construction."

This was a subject we originally pointed to back in 2017, after DCC published its 6th LAA. In the post Is DCC's LAA living in LAA LAA land?, we pointed to the Council's whizzy new upwards projections for sand and gravel sales based on "housing trajectory models". At that time, DCC claimed its LAA had:
demonstrated that there is a correlation between land-won aggregate sales and housing completions in Devon over the past ten years.
We posted:
That’s hardly surprising for land-won aggregates you might think, but for sand and gravel the link appears more tenuous, given that while housing starts have bounced back from the recession, Devon’s sand and gravel sales continue to fall; given that in 2016, when housing starts hit a 9-year high, Devon's sand and gravel sales fell 14%.



DCC now concedes that correlation between housing completions and sales of land-won aggregate – which includes not only sand and gravel but crushed rock too – has become "broken":
Section 4.1 has demonstrated that there has been a correlation between land-won aggregate sales and housing completions in Devon, and that the next ten years are forecast to see significantly higher levels of house building together with other infrastructure development. However, this correlation has been broken most recently (whether this is an anomaly or new situation will established in future LAAs) and previous experience indicates that caution needs to be taken over the delivery of forecast levels of development, while 4.1.9 highlights a range of other factors that will influence demand for aggregates.




Did we learn anything else? Sales of marine aggregates in Devon apparently "declined to their lowest level in the past ten years."

The Devon Minerals Plan tells us that:
5.4.6 Small quantities of marine-dredged sand and gravel are landed at Appledore and Yelland to serve local markets in northern Devon that are remote from the land-won sources in the east of the County.

DCC reports in this 8th LAA that:
In 2018 only a negligible amount of marine-dredged sand and gravel originating from the Bristol Channel was reported for this assessment, landed at Appledore.
More specifically, DCC reported landings of marine aggregate of 14k tonnes in 2017, and zero in 2018:
No tonnage was delivered to Appledore in 2018. Deliveries to Yelland were recorded for ‘beach nourishment’ in the report, but this use is not applicable to this assessment.
This may indeed be the case, although this 2018 tweet suggests otherwise:


And certainly in 2019, marine aggregates were being landed at Yelland again.





Aggregates delivered by sea keep trucks off roads. Last year saw aggregate from Somerset delivered by sea to Hinkley Point C, after a new jetty became operational:
EDF says each delivery keeps around 300 lorry loads off the roads and the jetty is expected to handle the equivalent of around 100,000 lorry loads over its life.
Much of it comes from Hanson UK’s Whatley quarry, near Frome, where it can be transported directly by rail to Bristol Port, before travelling the last 32 miles to Hinkley Point C by ship.

Minerals sector operating at “around 10 to 20% of normal capacity”

Construction output is expected to fall by 25% during 2020, says the Construction Products Association.


Earlier this month, the Minerals Products Association – the trade body representing Aggregate Industries and others – reported that demand for aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete and mortar had declined even before the impact of Covid-19. In the South West, "surfacing works were particularly hit by exceptional rainfall throughout February."

Looking forward, the MPA says:
Weak underlying market demand for heavy-side building materials at the start of the year, combined with construction sites closures, are having a significant impact on mineral products businesses with an even weaker and more uncertain outlook for the rest of 2020
MPA CEO Nigel Jackson commented:
It has been as torrid a time as any of us can remember. Just as optimism was increasing with Brexit uncertainty lifting, the combination of flooding and COVID-19 has knocked the economy for six. We are down to around 10 to 20% of normal capacity...
In Lincolnshire, CEMEX has mothballed a cement plant with the loss of around 100 jobs, a decision that "has not been influenced by the current coronavirus pandemic."

‘...a world that will never be the same again’

... said Steve Rowe, CEO of Marks & Spencer, recently. He may of course be thinking more about the retail sector. As a Morgan Stanley analyst recently remarked, the effect of Covid-19 on the industry "is set to be so profound that it will render irrelevant most of the research we have ever written".

But all this goes wider than retail. The FT says:
It is difficult to find any avenue of life that has not been identified as going through some profound structural change.
The ramifications on businesses will be huge:


According to an economist at the Harvard Kennedy School, the financial crisis is likely to last until the health crisis is solved:
I don’t think it’s over. And if it’s not over on the disease, it’s not over on the social distancing and the business closures, and therefore it’s not over on the balance sheet effects. That makes it a financial crisis until the core health problem gets resolved.
In the UK, Government borrowing hit £62bn in April. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has warned that Britain is facing a "severe recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen". PMI surveys have crushed hopes of a V-shaped recovery. As one economist predicts:
... the likelihood is it won’t even be a V, I don’t even think its going to be a U, it will probably be a L ... straight down and very slowly out...
British households probably won’t return to their old spending patterns until the middle of this decade.

Many companies will now be assessing the ramifications of coronavirus. LafargeHolcim – the parent company of Aggregate Industries – claims it wants to build a healthier world:
More than ever, we want to demonstrate leadership by connecting the dots between this unprecedented health crisis and the need for a sustainable recovery.

A healthier world is indeed what we all need, but – given that concrete is the most destructive material on Earth – LafargeHolcim is not the company to provide it.

Because LafargeHolcim, who will now more than ever be looking to sell as much cement and concrete as possible, has no doubt connected the dots and realised its markets could suffer structural changes too.

DCC: “Pandemic offers glimpse into a carbon neutral future”


Dr. Phil Norrey, Chairman of the Devon Climate Emergency Response Group and chief executive of Devon Country Council said:
In the most tragic of circumstances, the lockdown has given a glimpse of how a more sustainable Devon might look, feel and sound. People have experienced quieter streets for walking and cycling, heard more bird song, seen wildlife and felt a greater connection and appreciation for green spaces around them.

Amongst the sadness of the pandemic there is a huge opportunity to use the economic stimulus measures that are necessary to enable communities to recover, to improve public health, our resilience and our wellbeing as well as address the climate and ecological emergencies.

There are projects in Devon, for instance sustainable transport and energy production, that could respond quickly to a cash injection to develop supply chains and skills for a low carbon future.

But as we begin to recover from this pandemic, we must be careful not to fall back into the same old routines. We all must think differently about the way we work and the way we travel.

Want to become a hydrogeologist?


Wednesday 13 May 2020

Prof warns DCC – quarry at Straitgate would ‘irreversibly damage’ water sources

Unsaturated zone flow times of 8 YEARS – not the 1 to 3 days consultants claimed...

Drinking water sources suffering PERMANENT acidity increases – due to the LOSS OF 7 YEARS of rock/water interaction times, a 50% CUT...

Piezometers recording lower groundwater levels than reality – enabling extraction DEEPER THAN THE MAXIMUM WATER TABLE...

These are some of the damning conclusions from a new report by Professor Rick Brassington in response to Aggregate Industries’ planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm.

Prof Brassington wrote his new report specifically for Devon County Council – "to ensure that they have a clear view" – given that the Environment Agency "will not be providing further responses", and given the EA's request that "further concerns... should be directed to Devon County Council". The report landed with DCC at the start of this week, but despite Prof Brassington's request, the Council batted the report straight off to the EA, presumably without a second glance, and responded:
If your report raises any new issues which the EA consider to be material then I will ask the applicant to clarify.
However, clearly the report does raise new material issues, which will need much more than clarification to sort out. This would have become immediately apparent if the Council had bothered to read it.

Because, what’s abundantly clear from Prof Brassington’s report is that Aggregate Industries’ so-called hydrogeology experts – Amec Foster Wheeler now Wood – have not been very expert at all. They have either been guilty of intentionally misleading, or have completely misunderstood groundwater behaviour at Straitgate, such as the length of time water takes to permeate down to the aquifer. Either intentionally or otherwise, they have dismissed the role that the unsaturated zone – the resource above the water table that Aggregate Industries wants to quarry – plays in determining the groundwater chemistry.

Prof Brassington warns:
the application for the proposed quarry should be refused because of the irreversible damage that it will cause to the local groundwater system that both supports local habitats and forms the water supplies for Cadhay House with its medieval fishponds and tearooms, more than 100 people plus three livestock farms. 80
By the way, Prof Brassington is not just any expert on hydrogeology; that's obvious from his CV which stretches across pages 32 to 40 of the new report. He clearly has more experience, knowledge and independence than any consultants engaged by Aggregate Industries, a company hell-bent on extracting as much material as possible. He is a recognised authority on hydrogeology, recent winner of the Whitaker Medal, and author of various textbooks on the subject.

Prof Brassington says his new report "should be read in conjunction with the conclusions and recommendations reached in my earlier reports" on Aggregate Industries’ planning application. We posted about these in: Professor of Hydrogeology says ‘ANY quarrying at Straitgate would cause problems’, Professor rebuts EA’s response to his report. Has the EA got it all wrong?, and Another damning response from Professor of Hydrogeology on AI’s Straitgate plans.

This time, Prof Brassington focuses on the permanent change to groundwater chemistry that would result if all but 1m of the unsaturated zone were removed.

Last year, the company’s consultants Wood tried to claim – although clearly they weren’t too sure – that a reduced unsaturated zone thickness would "not necessarily" make any difference:
The moderately low pH, alkalinity and dissolved solids in groundwater in this area is, therefore, not necessarily a function of the time it takes for water to pass through the unsaturated zone, but a function of the variable and limited presence of soluble material within the sub-surface materials. A reduction of the unsaturated zone therefore will not necessarily give rise to a reduction in the pH, alkalinity or dissolved solids concentration of groundwater. With respect to the topsoil, subsoil and overburden that will be replaced once extraction of an area is completed, the replaced material will then be subject to water/rock interaction processes as water percolates through the replaced unsaturated zone material. As is shown by the leach test data, the soluble content of the unsaturated zone is low across much of the site or is mostly influenced by the shallow deposits which will be replaced after mineral extraction. Therefore, again, this implies that removal of the deeper unsaturated material will not necessarily result in a noticeable change in groundwater quality beneath the site or, more categorically, not at downgradient receptor. p10
Prof Brassington, however, is having none of that:
The length of the travel time involved is critical in determining the development of the chemistry of the water that discharges from the springs. 35
Let’s repeat that for the benefit of those championing Aggregate Industries’ scheme – be they consultants, the EA or Devon County Council – who seem so hard of understanding:
The length of the travel time involved is critical in determining the development of the chemistry of the water that discharges from the springs. 35
In fact:
...the whole of the flow path from the ground surface where recharge water starts its journey downwards through the unsaturated zone to the water table where it becomes groundwater which then flows through the saturated zone to emerge at the springs is essential in the development of the water chemistry. The removal of part of the unsaturated zone where flow velocities are far less than in the saturated zone will result in the greatest impact on the water chemistry. 21
It makes you wonder how knowledgeable Aggregate Industries’ experts really are. Or indeed, the EA for being taken in by their tales.

transit of water through the unsaturated zone is considered to be fairly rapid due to the intergrannular and fractured nature of the BSPB and therefore the thickness of the unsaturated zone may not be as important. 2.5
Again in 2017, in response to DCC’s Reg 22 request – that raised questions over unsaturated zone storage and flood risk – Amec argued:
...recharge reaches the water table in the BSPB through unsaturated thicknesses of between approximately 3 and 10 m within between 1 and 3 days. This is consistent with the conceptual model for relatively rapid recharge occurring in the BSPB (i.e. days rather than weeks or months). 2.7.3
This is rubbished by Prof Brassington, who reminds Wood’s so-called experts that groundwater flow through the unsaturated zone occurs as a "piston flow resulting in an equal volume of water entering at the top of the unsaturated zone being released from the bottom to enter the saturated zone beneath the water table" and that:
It is important not to confuse this type of flow with one that suggests that the recharge from any rainfall event reaches the water table rapidly through fracture flow 60
Prof Brassington says the time groundwater takes to travel through the unsaturated zone should not be measured in days, weeks or months – but in YEARS:
According to Wang et al (2012) the unsaturated zone velocity for the Sherwood Sandstone Group falls in the range 0.6 – 2.3 m/year with a mean of 1.06 m/year (these values were summarized by Chilton and Foster (1991)). The values for unsaturated zone flow rates are several orders of magnitude (three to five) lower than flow velocities in the saturated zone. 59
In the case of Straitgate:
... the lack of cement means that the rock is basically a pebbly sand with layers of silt and clay; consequently there are no fractures and so there will be no bypass flows. 59
It is simple to calculate the loss in groundwater travel time caused by the loss of some 7 m of the unsaturated zone as it is 7 × 1.06 years = 7.42 years. 62
YEARS, NOT DAYS. Much as indicated below – and widely elsewhere:


That’s an amazing, fundamental mistake for Amec to have made, and for the EA to have overlooked. It makes you wonder how many other things these parties have got wrong about Straitgate's groundwater.

Removing much of the unsaturated zone – and its capacity to store large amounts of slowly moving water – will naturally have huge impacts on spring flows and flood risk. It is however the change in groundwater chemistry that Prof Brassington has focused on. Indeed, in his original report a year ago he warned:
…the proposals will cause a large reduction in the thickness of the unsaturated zone that will reduce the time for the recharge to percolate through this zone. This reduced period will mean less time for rock/water interaction and will result in a less chemically mature groundwater that is more acidic than it is at the moment. These are reasons why the application should be refused by Devon County Council. 5.13
Given the EA’s dismissive attitude – Prof Brassington has raised those warnings again in his new report:
The water chemistry develops as the water percolates through the unsaturated zone and then, once it has reached the water table, it flows through the aquifer. A series of rock/water interactions takes place along this flow path causing the chemistry of the water to change as it moves along. These interactions are slow and so the time taken for the water to reach the springs will determine the concentration of the dissolved minerals, the balance between the dissolved minerals, the pH and the electrical conductivity of the water. 35
Prof Brassington shows that for Cadhay the period for rock/water interactions would be HALVED if Aggregate Industries’ proposal went ahead:
The EA calculated the Source Protection zone (Walford, 2013) using a similar method to the one adopted here. The map they have produced is shown below in Figure 11. The distance of the flow path from the recharge area in the proposed quarry to the Cadhay spring has been marked on the map. 64


Calculations of the time that groundwater takes from rainfall percolating into the ground to the groundwater emerging from a spring have been carried out for the Cadhay spring that supplies Cadhay House and estate. The water takes almost 15 years to make this journey and if all but 1 m of the unsaturated zone is removed this reduces some 50% of the total travel time. 76
Not only that. Whatever Section 106 conditions are made – and a leading planning lawyer has already shown that draft legal assurances for alternative water supplies are “unfit for purpose” – Aggregate Industries would be long gone:
It shows that the time taken can be expected to be sufficiently long for the quarrying to have been completed by some years by the time that the water quality changes have occurred. This will provide scope for AI to deny causing the problem. 77

Prof Brassington warns:
The impact on the travel time also means that the deterioration of the groundwater chemistry will be a permanent change and it will not be possible to reverse it. 77
The concern for the 100 people or so who obtain their water supply from these springs is that the water make up will substantially change and a reduction in the pH will mean that the water is too acidic for drinking without treatment and it will dissolve metal pipework and storage tanks. It will affect the chemistry of the water in the streams that will impact on the Cadhay Bog and Cadhay Wood wetland habitats in the ancient woodland as these depend on the stream flows. 56
Furthermore, Prof Brassington warned in his original report that Aggregate Industries' model of the maximum water table – the base of any quarry – is not correct, as we posted in Boreholes at Straitgate ‘will have groundwater levels lower than local water table’.

In his new report, Prof Brassington is again at pains to remind us – or at least remind Aggregate Industries’ consultants and the EA who should know about these things: "the depth of a borehole and its location within an aquifer have a significant influence on the water level within it":
The use of fully penetrating piezometers to monitor the elevation of the water table as is the case at the Straitgate Farm site, means that it can be expected that the water levels in the piezometers will reflect a lower water level than the correct water table due to the three-dimensional aspect of groundwater flow. The MWWT grid will therefore be modelled from levels lower than reality, which will enable AI to excavate below the maximum water table. 73
Quite how this planning application can go any further forward – as it currently stands – with so many errors in the environmental information, and with so many warnings from such an eminent independent expert in hydrogeology, is anybody’s guess. An invasive sand and gravel quarry at Straitgate Farm, is – as Prof Brassington so clearly points out – no way to treat "a fragile groundwater system" and no way to treat a water source depended on by so many, including an important Grade I listed house and gardens.

‘The world has changed dramatically’, says LafargeHolcim

No one is going to argue with that.

Last year, LafargeHolcim – parent company of Aggregate Industries – decided to pull out of South East Asia and pay down debt, saying:
Our strategic decision to divest South East Asia was executed with very attractive valuations allowing us to achieve a new level of financial strength.

This week, part of that deal has fallen through, as competition authorities failed to approve the sale of the company's 86% stake in Holcim Philippines to San Miguel Corporation, leaving it with $2 billion less in cash to weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Only last month, LafargeHolcim revealed its Q1 results and claimed it was "well-positioned to weather the crisis", conceding however that "the biggest impact from COVID-19 is expected in Q2."

Putting a positive spin on this week's setback, the company said:
With today’s unprecedented global health crisis, the world has changed dramatically
Given today’s new reality, we have decided to no longer sell our business in the Philippines. The Philippines is one of the most high-growth countries in the Asia-Pacific region and we intend to maintain our leadership position there.

Unions urge LafargeHolcim: “No feast in a time of plague”


LafargeHolcim has been criticised for exorbitant payments to directors and shareholders "while their workers are struggling to survive." Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL said:
Permanent and contract workers at LafargeHolcim operations are facing extraordinary challenges during this Covid-19 pandemic. It is shocking to see that LafargeHolcim is paying exorbitant dividends, which are not even subject to taxes.
It is completely unacceptable that 37 LafargeHolcim workers lost their lives in 2019 alone. We strongly urge LafargeHolcim to stop this feast in a time of plague and invest more in social dialogue, protect the health and safety of all the employees and guarantee their incomes in difficult economic situation.

Particulate matter PM10 & PM2.5 vs COVID-19

We’ve often mentioned particulate matter – PM10 and PM2.5 – in relation to the health impacts of quarrying. Slightly off topic, the second image down shows COVID-19 for comparison.


Recycled roads

We've posted about recycled asphalt – including in 2018 about the World’s first ‘fully recycled road’:
Eurovia, part of Vinci – the company that now owns South West Highways – has recently completed a motorway renovation project in France using 100% recycled asphalt; in other words, "extracts from quarries were not used at any stage":
The bulk of the supply can be sourced from the milling of materials produced by the site, thereby partly or fully protecting natural resources and reducing both transport logistics and the site’s carbon footprint to a minimum, with a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
We’re working to create systems which will significantly reduce the reliance on quarries, prevent more material from going to waste and reduce the distance that material has to be transported.
What does he see as the main obstacle? Mindset:
...the difficulty is in changing the mindset of the industry to accept this way of working, rather than the cost of it.

Friday 8 May 2020

UK construction activity crashes to all-time low

In April, the Construction PMI sank to just 8.2, "way below anything ever seen before."



LafargeHolcim – parent company of Aggregate Industries – is apparently "well positioned to weather the crisis", cutting capital expenditure "by at least CHF 400 million compared to 2019" and "fixed costs by CHF 300 million in 2020". LafargeHolcim is confident that the aggregates industry will bounce back strongly later this year. Wishful thinking or delusion?

Saturday 2 May 2020

COVID-19 ‘has brought food security to the fore’


Thousands of British workers will need to help gather the harvest as seasonal workers from other parts of Europe are unable to travel due to the coronavirus lockdown, the environment minister said on Wednesday.

Initial signs don't look encouraging:

Only 150 people have taken up jobs picking fruit and vegetables after a recruitment drive by a charity that garnered 50,000 expressions of interest, underscoring the difficulty farmers are facing in maintaining food supplies.

Further afield, cities from Amsterdam to Singapore want to introduce policies to improve food security:

The current COVID-19 situation underscores the importance of local food production.
The COVID-19 crisis has focused the attention of many governments to treat food security more seriously as a national security issue.

Who knows? One day the UK might think about it too:



The covid pandemic has obviously changed our thinking on food and how it is sourced:

The environmental charity Hubbub reports, from a survey of 2000 people, that 44% of people are enjoying cooking more since the lockdown, and 47% enjoying spending more time eating with their household. Food waste is down with 48% reporting throwing away less food, through more careful meal planning (51%) and getting better at using leftovers (41%). Take away eating is crashing, with 43% buying fewer takeaways as they worry about contamination and 41% saving money by not ordering takeaways. There is a surge of interest in local shops, with 29% visiting their local corner store for the first time, with increased interest in butchers, milk deliveries, box schemes, farms shops and greengrocers.

In Devon:

Even our friends in the minerals industry – whose business model relies on trashing, and thereby losing forever, some of our best agricultural land – touts, without irony, the challenges of food security:

Villagers ramp up fight to stop toxic quarry

We have posted about the progress of another campaign group – most recently here and here.

Now, according to this article, the residents – who are concerned that toxic silica dust from a proposed quarry just 300 metres from their homes could pose a significant public health threat – have stepped up their fight, and have raised £15,000 in less than two weeks through GoFundMe and other donations to cover legal and professional fees. As one of the campaigners put it:
There is no question that this is testament to the strength of concern our residents have and their determination to stop this Quarry which will otherwise permanently scar this 'Barford Valley' and risk permanent scarring of residents lungs.

Impact of coronavirus on planning system

There is widespread variation in local councils' responses to delivering planning services as exemplified in their approach to delegation and the setting up of virtual planning committees. As mentioned, some councils are delegating more decision making to officers.
The introduction of virtual meetings has had mixed results. Without robust arrangements for meaningful participation of third parties in planning committee meetings, the public voice risks being sidelined. Reliable live streaming of meetings and support and advice for the public on how to participate are both essential.
We believe that arrangements for public involvement must be in line with principles of access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental decision-making – which are enshrined in a UN Treaty known as the Aarhus Convention, signed by the UK.
To safeguard local democracy and accountability, major decisions and those of a controversial nature should continue to be made by elected members, not officers.
The pandemic also raises fundamental questions regarding the relevance of Local Plan targets (for example, governing how many new homes should be built) since the evidence on which these are based was drawn up in very different economic and demographic circumstances. This suggests the need for revision and review.

Campaigners have called on the government and councils to ensure that the public continues to have a say in planning decisions during the coronavirus outbreak, highlighting a series of "troubling cases" where decisions made by 'virtual' committees or under delegated powers are alleged to have been taken with limited public involvement.

Devon County Council will aim to be carbon neutral by 2030


The declaration of a climate emergency is relevant to Aggregate Industries' plans to quarry Straitgate Farm – given the 2.5 million mile haulage plan the company has put forward. As we posted, After DCC’s climate emergency declaration – and "comments in the public domain about how the road trips can be justified" – Council pushes AI for further information.

However, to bring readers up-to-date, Devon County Council has now stepped up a gear:

Last Thursday’s full council meeting saw councillors unanimously back a motion put forward by Cllr Jacqi Hodgson calling for the date to be reconsidered.
The council had previously set a 2050 target date to become carbon neutral, but the Green Party councillor had called for this to be revised down to 2025.
The ruling cabinet though suggested that 2030 was the date they aim to be carbon neutral by and that through its role in the Devon Climate Emergency Response Group, encourage the Net-Zero Task Force to be ambitious in its drafting of the Devon Carbon Plan.
Leader of the council, Cllr John Hart, added: "This is the start and not the end. 2030 is an end date but it may get shortened. We are putting this out and working with experts who know what they are talking about."
Dave Black, Head of Planning, Transportation and Environment, in his report to the meeting, added: "The recommendation demonstrates the necessary local leadership to accelerate the decarbonisation of Devon, the UK and, indeed, the globe that is required to avoid the worst effects of climate change on our communities."