On the instructions of a third party, a large law firm has responded to Aggregate Industries' application to quarry Straitgate Farm, specifically addressing:
1. the highway and safety impacts of the proposed access along Birdcage Lane;2. the unsustainability of the proposed development in policy terms;3. the impact of the proposed access works on a tree within [3rd party] land.
Highways consultants Vectos have also been engaged.
The head of the planning team at Foot Anstey writes that DCC "will agree that the safety of people is more important than the extraction of sand and gravel":
The application is now the third attempt by the applicant to find a means for accessing the development. As the Vectos Report demonstrates, this attempt has failed. Any scheme which raises the prospects of harm to children is, self-evidently, both sub-optimal and unacceptable. No application should be approved which places 200 HGVs per day in potential conflict with pedestrians and school children. This is reflected in policy, both at a local and national level… The LPA will agree that the safety of people is more important than the extraction of sand and gravel. Unless the applicant can demonstrate that safety will not be compromised, permission should be refused.
Vectos has raised a number of significant concerns relating to the proposed development. These include problems with right-turning traffic from the B3174/Exeter Road, problems with the interaction between the required new cattle crossing and the operation of the B3174, and, most worryingly, significant problems of pedestrian safety, including those of children… the LPA cannot lawfully grant planning permission without properly considering the Vectos Report, the response to that Report by the applicant, and any residual adverse and harmful highway and safety impacts.
The Vectos Report gives more detail:
The design does not take into account the impact of HGVs emerging on right turning traffic into Birdcage Lane. Vehicles will have to wait on the B3174 longer creating a hazard. There is evidence of collisions occurring due to turning traffic along the B3174. As a result, in accordance with TD 42/95 a right turn lane should be provided;
… the currently proposed access and proposed Birdcage Lane adjustments do not take into account the safety of pedestrians (including school students) and should be considered not to provide safe and suitable access for all people, which is contrary to paragraph 32 of the NPPF.
The provision of a Cattle crossing over the B3174 may have severe impact on the operation of the B3174, which in the absence of assessment is not known.
On the "Unsustainability of the Development in Policy Terms", DCC is reminded by Foot Anstey that "the inclusion of the application site in the DMP is only the first stage" and whilst:
… there may be a planning need at some future date for allowing development at Straitgate notwithstanding its non compliance with policies… in 2017, a grant of permission at Straitgate would be premature at best, as alternative sites already exist which will deliver the requisite mineral requirements, and which do not have adverse environmental and other planning impacts.
On the damage to third party property, Vectos concurs with AI’s consultants, who have said that it is "likely [that Tree H] will be damaged by the development and need to be felled."
Foot Anstey has advised DCC that the third party:
... will not allow damage to his property. Accordingly, any development which may cause such damage will be resisted through available legal means, which may include an application for an injunction and/or an action for damages. Any such action would be brought against both the applicant and the Council (in its capacity as the local highways authority), and may also include a private prosecution for criminal damage.
