Straitgate Action Group

Straitgate Farm near Ottery St Mary in Devon was bought in 1965 in the hope it would yield 20 million tonnes of sand & gravel. Straitgate Action Group was formed in 2001 to oppose a quarry due to concerns over water supplies, ancient woodlands, protected species, road safety and more. After finally gaining permission for just 1 million tonnes on appeal, Holcim UK – formerly Aggregate Industries – abandoned its plans in 2025. This blog records the long path to victory.

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Monday, 14 November 2016

Welcome to LafargeHolcim

LafargeHolcim - the parent company of Aggregate Industries - will be the ultimate beneficiary of any scheme that destroys an East Devon farm, putting local water supplies and much more at risk.

We wrote about Holcim and human rights in 2013. Since then the company has merged with Lafarge. What do we know about LafargeHolcim? Have a look at a few of the news stories from 2016:
French cement maker Lafarge 'made deals with IS group in Syria'
Lafarge dodges accusations of deals with Islamic State
Protest group demands Paris drop LafargeHolcim as corporate sponsor
Competition Commission of India fines 11 cement companies US$1bn for alleged cartelisation
LafargeHolcim to pay farmers Euro270,000 for pollution in Slovenia
Lafarge Malaysia faces clean-up costs after accidental dust discharge
Steelworkers at Texada Limestone Mine Locked Out by Lafarge
Unions demand real commitment from LafargeHolcim
World's largest carbon producers face landmark human rights case
When you talk to those very nice people at the Public Exhibition, this is the company they represent.
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Labels: human rights, LafargeHolcim, ROW
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Schedule of planning conditions
Section 106 unilateral undertaking

Penslade application DCC/4424/2025

LINKS

Appeal Decision
Straitgate & Hillhead Public Inquiry
PINS APP/J1155/W/22/3299799
Straitgate application DCC/3944/2017
Straitgate appeal DCC/3944/2017
Hillhead application DCC/3945/2017
Hillhead appeal DCC/3945/2017
Planning Inquiry Documents
Committee Report 1.12.21
EA correspondence
Livestock crossing 20/2542/FUL
Blackhill application DCC/3816/2015
Straitgate application DCC/3774/2015
Blackhill application DCC/3775/2015

Holcim UK Ltd Companies House
Holcim UK press releases
Holcim media releases

Devon Minerals Planning
Devon Minerals Plan 2011–2033
12th Devon Local Aggregates Assessment
DCC Monitoring and Enforcement Plan
DCC Site Monitoring

National Planning Policy Framework
Minerals planning guidance
Mining and quarrying in the UK
Martin Goodall's Planning Law Blog
CPRE How to respond...
Community Planning Alliance
Environmental Law Foundation
Minerals Law

MWWT – latest
Parkhouse 1990 report
Parkhouse 1990 borehole summary
Parkhouse 1990 borehole logs
Geology plan
Archaeology
Haul route

APPROVED PLANS

Overview Plan R22/L/3-3-001 rev B
Detail Area Plan R22/L/3-3-002
Detail Area Plan R22/L/3-3-003 rev A
Detail Area Plan R22/L/3-3-004
Detail Area Plan R22/L/3-3-005
Detail Area Plan R22/L/3-3-006 rev A
Detail Area Plan R22/L/3-3-007 rev A
Detail Area Plan R22/L/3-3-008 rev A
Extraction and Ancillary Development SF/2 rev B
Advance Tree Planting SF/3 rev C
Development Phase 1 SF/5-1 rev C
Development Phase 2 SF/5-2 rev B
Development Phase 3 SF/5-3 rev B
Restoration Scheme SF/6 rev E
Cross sections R22/L/3-3-009 rev A
Cross sections R22/L/3-3-010 rev A
0308.101 rev F Junction improvement scheme layout
0308.104 Junction improvement long section
SF/RS/XX Road Section AB
SF/RS/XX Road Section CD

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      • Look what happens when a quarry company is accused...
      • Because AI’s HGVs never do anything wrong, do they?
      • Dr Dick van Steenis
      • Processing Straitgate material at Hillhead - AI sa...
      • For those who couldn't make the exhibition
      • AI's junction design - a few road signs, a wing an...
      • Water boards
      • AI is holding two Public Exhibitions at Uffculme t...
      • Minerals Plan – ‘approve it or start all over again’
      • ‘Hopefully that will put an end to these ludicrous...
      • Glossy leaflets for AI's unsustainable plans land ...
      • You might have thought
      • More groundwater problems for AI
      • Minerals Plan
      • Smell the hypocrisy
      • Welcome to LafargeHolcim
      • Here we go again...
      • Why's LafargeHolcim at the Marrakech climate talks?
      • AI's had second thoughts about processing Hillhead...
      • Dear Aggregate Industries
      • ‘Sustainability is embedded at the heart of our bu...
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RANDOM POSTS

  • Aggregate Industries’ Straitgate update for September
  • Could Holcim ever be a ‘CO2 hero’?
  • Another part of Aggregate Industries accused of breaching planning controls
  • Is the EA ‘working hard to protect and improve’ our waters, or not?
  • EA issues Closure Notice to Walleys Quarry Ltd
  • Curbing the great sand grab
  • Can ecological compensation schemes achieve “No Net Loss”? Scientists say NO
  • Warnings from OECD. Continuing pain for UK construction
  • MPA: ‘Housing-led construction slump hits mineral product sales hard’
  • Holcim ‘received EU emission allowances for idle cement plant’

PUBLICATIONS CITING SAG

Social Licence to Operate Good Practices and Recent Disputes – Illustrative Examples Across Europe 2021

Social License and Dispute Resolution in the Extractive Industries, Kent et al. 2021

The Facade of Federalist Incongruity: A Political Pretense to a Popular Menace, Varadharajan. GLS Law Journals, Vol. 02, Issue 01; January 2020

Overrated Credence to the Outdated Sand Mining Legislations: A Hydrologically Challenged Measure, Varadharajan. 16th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology Rhodes, Greece, September 2019
© Straitgate Action Group