DCC has belatedly accepted that there are only "approximately 0.9 million tonnes" of sand and gravel at Straitgate; modifications to the draft Minerals Plan will now be tabled accordingly for the Examination.
Local people will remember in 2012 that DCC originally consulted on a figure of 3.6 million tonnes - a figure based on Aggregate Industries’ wildly optimistic geological statement.
Now the figure is down to just 25% of that - less than 3 years' worth; an almost insignificant amount for a Minerals Plan that runs to 2033 - to weigh against the substantial harm and impacts to an East Devon farm, an AONB and a site of European importance to nature.
In evidence to the Competition Commission’s Aggregates Markets Investigation, Wardell Armstrong - which 'employs one of the largest teams of Chartered Minerals Surveyors in the UK' - said:
In evidence to the Competition Commission’s Aggregates Markets Investigation, Wardell Armstrong - which 'employs one of the largest teams of Chartered Minerals Surveyors in the UK' - said:
Notwithstanding the lack of availability of new sites, no aggregates operator would consider (for example) trying to develop a sand and gravel deposit of less than one million tonnes. We have clients who have sites which have been turned down on this basis. The planning and development costs are considered too great on a per tonne basis.
So what is Aggregate Industries playing at? Quarrying Straitgate makes no sense at all.
