If Aggregate Industries was to win permission to quarry Straitgate Farm, it is proposed that:
Where a wildlife hazard is present that cannot be effectively managed, the Quarry Manager will notify Exeter Airport so that they can inform pilots of additional risk levels. 4.2 EMMP
The safety of 100,000s of passengers flying into and out of Exeter Airport would therefore, at least partly, be reliant on AI’s quarry manager.
But that statement is also an admittance that AI's proposal could result in additional risk.
AI still proposes that lower-lying areas "are likely to hold ephemeral waterbodies and could be developed as wet grassland" 5.15, clearly against CAA advice, and that local people and birds can look forward to a variety of bird scaring and culling techniques:
During operations the Quarry Manager will be responsible for monitoring the conditions on site and instigating bird scaring techniques (bird scarers, birds of prey, and the like, including those methods described in the WHMP) when site activities may potentially attract more birds to the site, eg during soil stripping, during periods of prolonged heavy rain; such measures to be agreed in advance with the LPA and EHO to mitigate any adverse impacts on local residents. 4.6.2
At weekends, holidays and after restoration, when no quarry manager is on site, it's not clear who would bear responsibility.
