Staff at Aggregate Industries must be smiling. They must think DCC is a pushover, following the council's approval of its bagging plant application this afternoon. Robert Westell, AI's Senior Estates Manager, gave a faltering defence of his company's retrospective application, noted by a DCC officer as being "fairly disastrous" from a public relations point of view, seemingly unaware of one of the basic planning conditions - that there were to be no retail sales from the site.
Cllr. Bob Evans wanted the planning committee to remember one number - 55,000 - the number of HGVs local residents would have to put up with every year. But, bar the local councillor, the committee gave its unanimous support - members worried that the council would be taken to appeal if they rejected it. In one baffling comment, the chairman reminded local residents that they were "getting quite a lot out of this" [53:36]. With no new jobs, it's quite unclear what he meant. If he meant the slightly modified working hours 0600 to 1900 hours Mondays to Fridays and 0700 to 1300 hours on Saturdays - big deal. If that many HGVs went past his front door he might feel differently.
