Sunday 28 June 2020

AI’s planning application to extend Chard Junction Quarry in Dorset AONB

The Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty "is a collection of stunning landscapes and is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its designation as a nationally important protected landscape." Dorset AONB Partnership is tasked with looking after this landscape:
Our mission is to help make sure that our special landscapes are handed to future generations in good shape.

The purpose of any AONB designation is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the designated landscape. Mineral extraction does the reverse. It is therefore a designation that has caused problems for Aggregate Industries.

In the not-so-distant past, the UK subsidiary of Franco-Swiss cement giant LafargeHolcim attempted to extend operations in the East Devon AONB, as part of its planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm. Things didn’t go well. Aggregate Industries couldn’t demonstrate the "exceptional circumstances" needed by the NPPF for major development in an AONB, and the company’s planning application to haul winnings from Straitgate across the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths to be processed on Woodbury Common was eventually pulled. The site at Blackhill – which had suffered from quarrying for decades – is now being restored, apart from one area where industrial development was subsequently permitted. The company now proposes to process Straitgate material at its Uffculme plant instead.

Aggregate Industries will therefore be hoping for a better outcome for its planning application WD/D/19/000451 to extend Chard Junction Quarry at Westford Park Farm, a proposal with "an estimated life of 7 years" to work a now reduced amount of approximately 830,000 tonnes of sand and gravel.


The site straddles a county boundary. Somerset County Council considered it "appropriate for Dorset County Council to determine the application in its entirety" based on a report involving Devon County Council’s Minerals Officer – the same officer who championed the Straitgate Farm site so enthusiastically almost a decade ago now. The world of minerals planning is a small one.

The proposal is next to the River Axe in the Dorset AONB. Aggregate Industries claims it’s the "specialist nature of the mineral from Chard Quarry that makes it impractical to locate the quarry outside the AONB" – namely the mineral’s aesthetics, its "texture, physical properties and golden colour". Furthermore:
Chard Junction Quarry is in a unique logistical position in the marketplace, ideally suited to serve the rural markets in East Devon, South Somerset and West Dorset... The extension at Westford Park Farm would provide a further 5 years provision... 4.1.9
However, NPPF paragraph 172 is clear about "major development" in an AONB:
Planning permission should be refused for major development other than in exceptional circumstances, and where it can be demonstrated that the development is in the public interest.
The initial response from Natural England recommended the application be refused:
Natural England considers that the application is likely to lead to a significant and permanent detrimental effects on the protected landscape of the Dorset AONB.
It's certainly difficult to see how Aggregate Industries' existing workings at Chard Junction have enhanced the natural beauty of the designated AONB landscape.


Dorset AONB Partnership was unconvinced there were "exceptional circumstances" for the proposal:
I note that the applicant has submitted information in support of their view that the proposal is able to meet the requirements of an exceptional circumstances test. In my opinion, there are aspects of the arguments presented that are uncompelling. Concerning the need for the development, it is recognised that the site is not contained within the Council’s Mineral Sites Plan and that there is no anticipated landbank shortfall over the next 7 years or the life of the Plan.
In my opinion, the effects arising from this proposal clearly conflict with the statutory purpose of the AONB designation. I am not satisfied that the proposed mitigation measures, including measures such as phased extraction and tree planting, would satisfactorily address the major impact that the development would have on the character and appearance of the AONB during the operational phase. The major adverse effect of the operation of the proposed extension on the undeveloped, tranquil and remote character of the site and its context clearly compromise the special qualities of the AONB, placing the application in conflict with a wide range of Management Plan policies, as listed earlier. Furthermore, the major adverse effects on views within and into the AONB clearly diminish the natural beauty of a sizable portion of land within the designated area.
Since then, Aggregate Industries has made modifications, including "improved restoration contours", the use of a silt press to allow earlier restoration of silt lagoons, and £250,000 of "restoration benefits" over 30 years. Natural England remains unconvinced:
Taking account of the proposed modifications Natural England advises that the proposed extension should still be considered as a "major" development in the context of National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) paragraph 172 and so your authority will need to be satisfied the proposals can meet the policy’s "exceptional circumstances" tests.
Although the scheme is a substantial improvement on the previous proposals the scheme will nevertheless inevitably result in the loss of fields of a rural character within a natural landform in the Axe Valley Character Area. The final restored fields and associated habitats will make a notable extension to the areas of restored quarries within the general locality resulting in unavoidable detrimental effects on the protected landscape of the Dorset AONB.
That was earlier this month. Who knows what will happen next? Quarrying started at Chard Junction in the 1940s. Without this extension the company says the site will close. Back in December 2018:
At current extraction rates of circa 200,000 tonnes per annum there is approximately 12 months permitted reserves remaining. The urgent need for an extension is clear.
So, in theory, given it's now 2020, Aggregate Industries should have already depleted its permitted reserves, and given that the application is still to be determined and, according to the Planning Statement, "the proposed working scheme requires a number of actions prior to the commencement of mineral extraction" – haul road, screening bunds etc – to be "carried out over two quarters in Year 1", unless the company has a cunning plan, or mountains of stockpiled minerals, there may not be any mineral to sell for some time. Perhaps disappointing sales in 2020 have allowed the company to eke out supplies; the trend in recent years has been clear:
In 2015 sales from Chard Junction Quarry were 196,000 tonnes, in 2016 sales of 192,000 tonnes and in 2017 sales of 186,000 tonnes. 5.2.7
Aggregate Industries claims:
The proposed extension area is the last phase of workable resource and there are no viable alternative extension areas that have not already been worked. The proposed extension area will utilise the existing site infrastructure and processing facilities. 5.3
The 'do nothing option' is not a practical option for Aggregate Industries. Closing the site and leaving workable reserves in situ will effectively sterilise them. Given the size of the proposed extension area it would not be economically viable to close and reopen the site at some point in the future as an independent operation. Maintaining production sustains current employment for the next few years. 5.4
And yet it is apparently economically viable to open a new greenfield site at Straitgate to quarry a similar amount of material?

The do nothing option might not be "a practical option for Aggregate Industries" at Chard – although the extension would only buy 5 years' worth of material before the problem rears its head again. But clearly the market would cope. The company admits that "In theory, the quarry’s current aggregate supply could be absorbed by competitors", but its Non Technical Summary is at pains to point out:
If Chard Junction Quarry was closed, there would be a considerable increase in transport costs and extra road miles to meet local markets in the west of the County and beyond in Somerset and Devon.
And it is here we get to the nub of Aggregate Industries’ argument that it should be allowed to continue to despoil an AONB:
In terms of the AONB... there are no suitable alternative sites which are capable of supplying the existing markets at Chard Junction Quarry without significant increases in transportation costs which would increase carbon emissions. 10.6.8
You see, Aggregate Industries is happy to use green arguments when it suits. The company points to the carbon benefits of continued working in the AONB:
The reduction of carbon emissions and minimising transportation distances is an important consideration supporting the proposal. 4.1.10
But let’s put Aggregate Industries' sudden concern for the climate into context. The application proposes that "a designated haul road will be used to transport sand and gravel back to the existing Chard Junction Quarry for processing." The length of this haul road is around 600m.

The length of the haul road Aggregate Industries has proposed for its Straitgate Farm application – that Devon County Council with its declared Climate Emergency will need to decide upon – is 23 miles to the processing plant, 46 miles for each round trip, 2.5 million miles in all.

Staggering then – given this climate-busting 2.5 million mile proposal – that Aggregate Industries has the gall to remind Dorset Council about its declared Climate Emergency:
In terms of a reduction of carbon emissions and minimising transportation distances, at its very first Full Council meeting in May 2019, the Council took the step to declare a Climate Emergency. This means the Council are: • taking direct action to reduce the negative environmental impact of Council services; • using Council services to support and influence Dorset communities and organisations to reduce their carbon footprint; and • working with partners to develop the Council's climate emergency plan. 4.1.11
Think about the 2.5 million mile proposal for Straitgate, when Aggregate Industries reminds us that "the planning process will be critical in ensuring that the aggregates …are sourced and transported in ways that minimise emissions of greenhouse gases":
In order to be able to look for savings in the carbon footprint associated with aggregate minerals, the planning process will be critical in ensuring that the aggregates required to meet this demand are sourced and transported in ways that minimise emissions of greenhouse gases. This planning application provides the Council with some scope to reduce the carbon footprint associated with the supply of primary aggregates in Dorset and will ensure that the demand from local markets and beyond in Somerset and Devon are sourced and transported in ways that minimise emissions of greenhouse gases. In view of national policy and the Council's Climate Emergency aims, the reduction in carbon emissions and minimising transportation distances is an important consideration. 4.1.13
Therefore, it is considered that given the clear and substantive benefits that this scheme can bring to this part of the AONB, the carbon and climate change benefits of retaining a sand and gravel quarry within this location, the associated benefits to the local economy and the acceptable environmental and technical assessments, the proposed extension at Westford Park Farm is in the public interest and the proposal meets the exceptional circumstances tests set out in the NPPF. 4.1.20
But it’s not just concerns about the AONB. Aggregate Industries’ planning application for Chard Junction may have attracted less objections than for Straitgate, but concerns have nevertheless been raised on the impact of dust, noise, visual impact, and the effect on groundwater.

The impact on groundwater has been an overriding concern for Aggregate Industries' plans for Straitgate too. Just last month, Prof Brassington warned Devon County Council that a quarry at Straitgate would ‘irreversibly damage’ water sources.

In contrast to the numerous supplies dependent on Straitgate, however, at Chard Junction just one private water supply is thought to be at risk. Aggregate Industries’ consultants argue the effects on the private water supply at Westford Park Farm Well would be "Minor – Not Significant", but recognise:
The Westford Park Farm Well is, however, sensitive to changes in groundwater level, and it is recommended that ... an alternative water supply is provided in the unlikely event of derogation of the private water supply resulting from mineral development. 7.1.8
Last week, the Environment Agency – not the person overseeing Straitgate – took a different view:
The report concludes that the risk to Westford Park Farm Well is 'minor - not significant'. However, we view the risk to this well as being significant because it is only 10m from the boundary of the extraction area and because the river terrace gravels aquifer from which it abstracts is very limited in extent.
The report supports a Section 106 agreement being put in place requiring that an alternative water supply is provided if the Westford Park Farm Well is derogated as a result of the mineral development. We recommend that any Section 106 agreement provides for an alternative supply in the event that either the quantity or quality of water abstracted from the well are impacted... If the Westford Park Farm Well is impacted by the development then any replacement water supply will need to operate in perpetuity. This should be borne in mind when drafting the Section 106 agreement.
Indeed. In perpetuity. It would need to be the same for the long list of private water users around Straitgate, including farms, businesses and Grade I Cadhay with its mediaeval fishponds.

Incidentally, isn't it funny how many people disagree with the conclusions of the not-so-independent hydrogeologists batting enthusiastically for Aggregate Industries? It won’t surprise anyone to learn that the consultants who assessed the hydrogeology at Chard Junction – "Wood Environmental & Infrastructure Solutions UK Ltd", the ones who concluded 'minor - not significant' for the impact on a supply 10m from the quarry edge – were the very same ones whose "conceptual model of the groundwater environment" at Straitgate Farm has been so comprehensively rubbished.

It will be interesting – in a minerals way – to see how the Chard application proceeds. We will post again should anything noteworthy happen.

‘Great British Rain Paradox’

The findings of the Great British Rain Paradox survey warn that 72% of the British public believe the UK has enough water to meet daily demands. However, the public remains largely unaware of the risks that population growth and climate change will have on water supplies.
February 2020 was the wettest on record and May 2020 was one of the driest, highlighting the impact that climate change will have on weather patterns in the UK. While winter months are expected to get wetter, the summer months will get drier.
Currently, daily household water usage on a per person basis is 143 litres. In comparison, per person water usage in the 1960s was around 85 litres. The Environment Agency has warned that around 3,435 million extra litres of water could be required each day, if no action is taken to improve water usage between 2025 and 2050.


So, obviously, the Environment Agency should protect the precious groundwater supplying large numbers of people around Straitgate Farm – not allow it to be 'irreversibly' damaged by a minerals company.

‘...the rotten heart of the UK planning system’

A former senior policy adviser to the prime minister, Rohan Silva, has claimed that planning corruption is “endemic” in councils across Britain...
“The depressing truth is that corruption is endemic in Britain’s bureaucratic planning system. In every corner of the country, you can find stories of bribery, with local councillors and officials rigging the planning process for their own gain.”
The subject has recently reared its ugly head again. It centres on one minister:



How much further does it go?

The trouble with planning decisions is that they can seem arbitrary, which means merely matters of opinion. Possibly corrupting factors can always be at play.

“The planning system has historically cast developers and politicians in poacher and gamekeeper roles. But in recent years an increased focus on financial negotiations between public authorities and developers has made simple yes/no decisions into more complex transactions, sparking concerns the system lacks transparency and is vulnerable to corruption.”
Developers have raised their eyebrows at Desmond’s admission that he directly lobbied Jenrick – seeing it as something of an own goal.
“As a developer the last thing you do is talk to the secretary of state because you get into exactly this [controversy],” said one. “You know not to get anywhere near the politicians.”
At a council level, it is different. Council leaders and planning committee chairmen can be approached before planning applications are submitted. Developers know they have something councils badly need: cash.
The pressure on councils to use planning to deliver funds to invest in public services had only been increased by austerity, said Nick Johnson, a former director of the Manchester-based property developer Urban Splash, making them “alert to the opportunity of planning deals to prop up their finances”.
“There’s a real tension,” he said. “You have to question whether they are being completely objective about the decisions they are taking.”
And you can see why:

In a BBC interview defending Jenrick earlier this week, business minister Nadhim Zahawi said that voters who wanted to raise planning issues with their MPs could likewise go to a Conservative fundraiser.
Sue Hawley of Spotlight on Corruption said: “It's time for a serious review of conflicts of interest in UK planning.
“It is entirely wrong that those with money can gain access to politicians that puts their interests above the rest of us,” she told openDemocracy.
A previous openDemocracy investigation found that Leader’s Group donors had given more than £130 million to the Conservatives since 2010. Previous commitments to publish lists of attendees have not been kept. Earlier this year, the Tories scrubbed details of previous Leader’s Group meetings off the party website.
Back in 2012, we posted how Aggregate Industries had donated £150k to the Conservative Party's Leader's Group, despite "unprecedented difficult operating conditions" that meant the company had to delay payments to drivers.

Planning corruption couldn’t be happening in the mining and minerals industry, could it?

Departmental registers reveal a meeting on 21 March 2018 between Jenrick, who was then exchequer secretary to the Treasury, and Ofer, the ultimate owner of the UK mining company Cleveland Potash.
At the time, Jenrick was assessing whether to offer state support for a new potash mine being built by a rival company, Sirius Minerals, which was set to provide intense competition to Ofer’s loss-making business.
A spokesman for Jenrick said he recused himself from any decisions on the Sirius project, but did not say when. The Guardian understands that Jenrick retained oversight of Sirius Minerals’ application for financial support from the Treasury for at least six months after his meeting with Ofer in March 2018.
One of Ofer’s other UK firms, the Mayfair-based Quantum Pacific UK Corporation, subsequently donated to the Conservatives for the first and only time, giving the party £10,000 in March 2019.

In September 2019, Sirius Minerals revealed that the government had refused to provide financial support, a decision that effectively left the company on the brink of financial collapse.

Sirius was eventually bought out in a cut-price deal by the mining firm Anglo American in January 2020, wiping out the shareholdings of hundreds of small investors. Some lost most of their life savings due to the collapse, which Sirius Minerals has said would not have happened if the government had supported the project.
The tale of Sirius Minerals has been the subject of various posts on this blog.

UK Concrete outlines framework for ‘beyond net zero’


MPA UK Concrete – part of the Mineral Products Association, the trade association representing Aggregate Industries and friends – apparently has an "ambitious roadmap for the UK concrete and cement sector to deliver net negative emissions by 2050." Bravo. Somebody needs one. After all, we can't rely on Aggregate Industries, given its CO2 emissions are still rising.
The roadmap will not rely upon carbon offsetting or offshoring of production for emissions reduction. It will also be used to inform net zero strategies for other mineral products including aggregates, asphalt, dimension stone, lime, mortar and silica sand.
Chris Leese, director of UK Concrete, says:
The industry is under no illusion about the challenges we face, which will be neither quick nor easy. Achieving net zero will require the wholesale decarbonisation of all aspects of concrete and cement production, supply and use. We will only be able to achieve our net zero and net negative emissions goals with concerted support from Government and the wider construction, energy and transportation sectors.
Dr Richard Leese, director – industrial policy, energy and climate change, MPA, says:
Importantly, we believe that net zero should be achieved by reducing emissions from the construction materials manufactured in the UK rather than by simply replacing these with imports and moving the problem abroad. As such the roadmap aims to retain jobs and economic value in the UK whilst ensuring that the UK takes responsibility for the emissions it creates.
If the concrete industry is really serious about net-zero emissions, then madcap climate-damaging schemes like the one put forward by Aggregate Industries for Straitgate Farm will obviously be a thing of the past, won’t they? Or is the industry's roadmap no more than empty posturing and hot air – an attempt to greenwash "the most destructive material on Earth" – as our time runs out?

‘Use coronavirus to decarbonise construction’

CCC chairman Lord Deben: “The UK is facing its biggest economic shock for a generation. Meanwhile, the global crisis of climate change is accelerating. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address these urgent challenges together; it’s there for the taking.”

‘For now, fracking is over... we've moved on’, says UK energy minister


Mr Kwarteng made the comments while speaking about a new 50-megawatt cryogenic battery facility outside Manchester that will store renewable energy:
We had a moratorium on fracking last year and frankly the debate’s moved on. It is not something that we’re looking to do.


Perhaps this has something to do with why the debate has moved on. In the US:


Far-right protest: At least one person working for Aggregate Industries adds support

Aggregate Industries claims:


It appears the company still has work to do. London saw far-right demonstrators clash with police on June 13. At least one person representing Aggregate Industries seems to have added their support:

Thursday 18 June 2020

Bullshit

Bullshit – "an indifference to the truth" – pervades our world, our political world, our corporate world.

Aggregate Industries’ planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm, for example, has contained various amounts of it over the years – as we have so often highlighted.

Greenwashing is another example of bullshit. Aggregate Industries and parent LafargeHolcim engage in plenty of that too:




How do we tackle climate change in an age of bullshit? Here’s one answer, published this month:


For those unfamiliar with Harry Frankfurt, professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University, author of On Bullshit:


On Bullshit is a 2005 book (originally a 1986 essay) by philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt which presents a theory of bullshit that defines the concept and analyzes the applications of bullshit in the context of communication. Frankfurt determines that bullshit is speech intended to persuade without regard for truth. The liar cares about the truth and attempts to hide it; the bullshitter doesn't care if what they say is true or false, but rather only cares whether their listener is persuaded.

Amateur archaeologists redraw map of Roman Britain

We have previously posted about Straitgate’s Iron Age and Roman archaeology.

Now, research being undertaken from home by a group of amateurs is helping to redraw the map of the South West in Roman times.

Volunteers poring over detailed aerial surveys of the borderlands between Cornwall and Devon spotted telltale signs of dozens of previously unknown settlements and miles of roads linking Roman forts.
The project suggests areas including Bodmin Moor, in Cornwall, and Dartmoor, in Devon, were much more populous than previously had been thought.

Sustainable brick made from recycled sand & plastic waste

A company in India has launched the 'silica plastic block' – a sustainable building brick made with 80% recycled foundry dust and sand waste and 20% mixed plastic waste.

The SPBs were found to have 2.5 times the strength of normal red clay bricks while, to be consumed they need... 80% lesser use of natural resources.

UK’s largest distributor of building materials cuts workforce in face of lower demand

Travis Perkins clarified the outlook for building materials this week – by cutting a tenth of its workforce.


The company said:
It is evident that the UK is facing a recession and this will have a corresponding impact on the demand for building materials during 2020 and 2021.
The UK construction workforce could fall 10% by September, in material suppliers even more:

MPA calls for reform of mineral planning system

The Mineral Products Association – the trade body representing Aggregate Industries et al – is not happy:


The MPA calls for a number of reforms to the mineral planning system, in particular to put a stop to the increasing number of "superfluous information demands" that result from consultee and objector comments during plan-making and development control:
Minerals developments are complex and generally require Environmental Impact Assessment preceded by screening and scoping. All applications need to be supported by robust and objective evidence. However, planning authorities often seek additional information as a result of consultee and objector comments which are not necessary to determination but can result in significant additional unnecessary expenditure and delay, for example through blanket application of extensive validation checklists. Ensure that information requirements are material, reasonable and genuinely necessary to formulate sound policies and make decisions. This would reduce delay and cost to developers providing superfluous information, and hyper-critical approaches and challenges to planning authority decisions and judgements.
Hyper-critical challenges, significant additional unnecessary expenditure and delay. You almost feel sorry for these multinational cement giants that make up the bulk of the industry. We really should give them an easier ride. Gloss over all those environmental problems.

London Climate Action Week


Readers may remember that this time last year – a time that now seems like another age – climate protestors targeted London Concrete, part of Aggregate Industries. As one protester put it:
I’m taking part in this action to disrupt concrete production, because we have to pause and recognise the harm it is causing both locally and globally; locally with the dust in the air our children breathe and globally with the inextricable CO2 emissions involved which are destroying the world.

Building 150 homes on former quarry site ‘only way to make it safe’

Bodies of water at current and former quarries represent an ongoing hazard to the public – especially to young people – as we have posted before, including ‘Hundreds risk lives swimming in AI quarry’.

The industry is fully aware of the problem it leaves in its wake. As our climate warms, bodies of cold water will become ever more attractive to young people as places to cool off.




Things have got so bad at one former quarry – Large groups ignore lockdown and swim, enjoy picnics and litter at popular lake near Lincoln – that owners Cemex UK Properties Limited believe that rather than stepping up security and making the site safe, construction of 150 homes – whilst presumably profiting handsomely in the process – is the "only practicable way" the company can stop people trespassing on the site:
Development is the only practicable way to safeguard Apex Lake from unauthorised access from the south, safeguarding the natural habitat and addressing a growing public safety concern.
However, given that operations at the site ceased in 2014, it appears to have taken CEMEX six years to deal with this growing public safety concern – despite previous warnings:

Thursday 11 June 2020

Quarry operator warns: ‘Don’t complain if there’s noise, dust and vibrations’

Gallagher Aggregates has issued a warning to Taylor Wimpey over the house builders' plans for a new development near Hermitage Quarry in Barming, Kent.

Don’t complain if there’s noise, dust and vibrations - that’s the message from a quarry operator after a developer put forward plans for a new estate just 100m from its site.
Gallagher Aggregates has warned Maidstone Borough Council that any complaints from future residents about its operation should be given "absolutely no weight" if the development goes ahead.

Taylor Wimpey – the company oh so keen to sell those 187 quarry-side homes, and perhaps less concerned about the future well-being of those who buy one – commissioned a noise and vibration report. This found that although there would be an adverse impact on the closest homes, it "would not be prohibitive" if measures such as acoustic glazing and garden fencing were put in place.

Future residents may need to do more than keep their windows shut. A councillor warned:
They will feel it. All of us have felt the effects of the blasts. If it is approved, I hope they will inform people up front they will feel the vibrations.
Gallagher Aggregates won approval to extend the quarry for a further 23 years back in 2013. At the time, we posted When ancient woodland becomes the price for crushed aggregate.

But who wouldn't be surprised if Taylor Wimpey's housing plans were approved, given that the impact on people runs secondary to those of big business.

It was a similar case in Devon when the tin and tungsten mine at Drakelands was approved. At the time we posted how the health impacts from "56 households and up to 103 individuals" from blasting and low frequency vibration were cast aside, after officers recommended approval saying:
The protection to be afforded to residents has to be balanced with the reality of the scale of this particular mining operation which is one of the largest mines in Western Europe.
Balancing the reality in favour of Australian mining interests didn't help in the end. Drakelands, lest we forget, was one of the largest mines in Western Europe – right up until the point it ceased trading and appointed administrators.

Warnings from OECD. Continuing pain for UK construction


The OECD has warned that Britain’s economy is likely to suffer more damage from the Covid-19 crisis than any other country in the developed world. GDP is forecast to slump by 11.5%, more than France, Italy, Spain and Germany. If there were to be a second peak in the pandemic, the UK economy could contract by 14%.


A survey of construction purchasing managers shows continuing pain for UK construction. After work ground to a halt in April, activity fell further in May, albeit less dramatically.

Survey respondents often commented on the cancellation of new projects and cited concerns that clients would scale back spending through the second half of 2020, especially in areas most exposed to a prolonged economic downturn


Building sites are now reopening.

Noble Francis, economist at the Construction Products Association, said that while housebuilders were keen to complete work at existing sites, they would be wary of starting new developments until they had a clearer picture of the outlook for activity, and for prices.

However, the pandemic has put £6bn of infrastructure projects on hold:


During the crisis, the UK government has supported the wages of 1,480,600 jobs in the construction sector. Millions of people are concerned about their jobs across the economy, although construction staff seemingly less so:

LinkedIn’s index gives a score ranging from -100 to 100, with the latest data showing that construction had a score of 22, down from 24 in the previous survey.
Let's hope such optimism is not misplaced, given the recent newsflow:






Thursday 4 June 2020

Aggregate Industries’ ex-Head of Sustainability moves to Breedon

Sustainability matters, says Aggregate Industries:


Of course, if sustainability really mattered to Aggregate Industries, its emissions would not be up again.

If sustainability mattered to Aggregate Industries, it would never have launched a planning application for Straitgate, to haul sand and gravel to a processing plant 23 miles away – a total of 2.5 million miles.

If sustainability mattered to Aggregate Industries, why has it been without a Head of Sustainability for more than a year now?

Aggregate Industries has reduced its workforce by 7% over the last two years, from 4,143 full time equivalent employees in 2016 to 3845 in 2018, its latest sustainability report shows.
Not only that. The company has gone from recruiting an average of 40 apprentices in each of the previous three years, to recruiting just 4 in 2018. It has gone from having 43% of the workforce in the over 50s age bracket in 2017, to just 21% in 2018. The company has even lost its Head of Sustainability, by the look of things.
Donna Hunt, Aggregate Industries' Head of Sustainability until April 2019, has now moved to Breedon:
She brings with her more 20 years’ knowledge and experience, having held several senior sustainability, environmental and stakeholder engagement positions across the energy, aerospace engineering and construction materials sectors.
Breedon has attracted a number of high profile personnel from Aggregate Industries in the past, including its current CEO. Aggregate Industries has suffered from a number of other key departures too. Last year we posted, Crikey, yet another change at the top of Aggregate Industries’ aggregates division:
Barely 12 months into his role, Pablo Libreros – appointed as "new managing director to lead aggregates business into the future" – is off already. Mr Libreros has moved to LafargeHolcim France. No news of any replacement yet.
Another case of musical chairs, or rats deserting a sinking ship??
It was only last year that we posted AI appoints new head of Aggregates division, again:
Readers may remember that in July [2017] AI appointed Mike Pearce as managing director of its Aggregates division, only to see him move on to Breedon two months later.
Aggregate Industries has still not appointed a new managing director to its Aggregates division. The role is currently being assumed by the company’s CEO, Guy Edwards.

What are we to make of that? Is aggregates, like sustainability, no longer a key area of focus for the company going forward? Or is the reason these positions have not been filled simply down to the state of the economy and/or pressure from LafargeHolcim's bean counters?

LafargeHolcim ‘performs top in construction materials sector for ESG risk rating’

LafargeHolcim – the world's largest cement producer, and parent company to Aggregate Industries – wants to keep "raising the bar":


The bar to sustainable construction is obviously still quite high for LafargeHolcim, given that the company's carbon emissions amounted to some 148,000,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2019 alone – more than many countries, and, as opposed to further accelerating, still 2% higher than its like-for-like emissions two years earlier.

Despite this cost to our environment and our society, LafargeHolcim is proud; proud that it performs top in a list of industry peers for risks linked to ESG – environmental, social and governance – factors. LafargeHolcim's Chief Sustainability Officer says:
We are very proud of this industry-leading ESG ranking. It positions LafargeHolcim as the number one construction materials company within Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Rating, as well as the very first to rank below 20 in its “low risk” category. We are proud of the results of this assessment and are encouraged to keep on raising the bar to further accelerate the transition to sustainable construction.
If LafargeHolcim – with its country-beating carbon footprint – tops ESG risk rankings, "leading the way in sustainable construction", what does it say about the rest of the industry?

Investors are becoming increasingly concerned about sustainability issues. ESG ratings can be a signal of earnings risk. The company cites analysis performed by Sustainalytics:
Modern investors in public and private markets are demanding ESG data, research, ratings, and solutions in order to make informed, meaningful investing decisions. From climate change to supply-chain practices, the nature of the investment process is evolving and shining a spotlight on demand for stakeholder capitalism. Whether assessing the durability of a company's economic moat or the stability of its credit rating, this is the future of long-term investing.
LafargeHolcim claims:
The Sustainalytics report states that the company is at low risk of experiencing material financial impacts from ESG factors due to its strong management of material ESG issues. The company is especially recognized for its strong corporate governance performance and its improvement across all seven of the material ESG issues and corporate governance factors that were analyzed. According to the report, LafargeHolcim’s strongest areas of ESG risk management are its global business ethics programs, its broad range of sustainable products & services and its responsible use of resources, notably in terms of water management.
Which sounds great, but LafargeHolcim ignores the line from Sustainalytics' overview that recognises:
the company has a moderate level of controversies...
Despite the limited amount of publicly-available information at the time, LafargeHolcim has been on Sustainalytics’ radar for several years through our country involvement research. As part of our newly-developed Human Rights Risk Monitor, we now track company involvement in 14 countries and regions where there is a particularly high risk of companies being complicit in human rights violations. This includes conflict areas, such as Syria, but also disputed territories and authoritarian states where human rights abuses are rife.
LafargeHolcim would point to progress in this area:

I hope that by giving my personal commitment to this Call to Action we can highlight the importance of this topic for LafargeHolcim. We have always strived to be a valued member of the communities where we live and work and a model corporate citizen on a global level. Standing up as a promoter of human rights shall further advance these goals
Some would argue with always, given that not long ago the company was embroiled in this controversy: