The planning application in 2017 to quarry Straitgate Farm, DCC/3944/2017, was submitted in tandem with another application, DCC/3945/2017, for the:
Importation of up to 1.5 million tonnes of as raised sand and gravel from Straitgate Farm into Hillhead Quarry for processing, together with the widening of a 400 metre length of Clay Lane
In Aggregate Industries' words, those two planning applications were "inextricably linked":
This planning application is inextricably linked to another separate planning application to win and work 1.5 million tonnes of sand and gravel at Straitgate Farm. 1.1.2
The widening is proposed in order to allow two-way lorry movements along this stretch of road. It is proposed to alter the one-way routing system such that lorries no longer need to use the stretch of Broad Path off the A38, relieving residents at that junction from quarry traffic and waste traffic. This part of the application is considered to be of significant benefit to the local community. 3.3.2
In other words, AI was prepared, at last, to widen Clay Lane for its HGVs, bringing "significant benefit to the local community" – if permission was granted to allow both quarrying at Straitgate Farm and the importation of the spoils to Hillhead, some 23 miles away near Uffculme, for processing.
Residents near Hillhead have complained for years about unsuitable roads, the voluntary one way system, and trucks passing close to houses. The proposed widening of Clay Lane was meant to ameliorate the situation once and for all, and was touted by AI as a benefit, the quid pro quo, of the Straitgate/Hillhead scheme, "sufficient to outweigh the negative impact of transporting the Straitgate minerals to Hillhead Quarry for processing", sufficient benefit in AI’s mind to "overcome the apparent conflict with Policy M22" of the Devon Minerals Plan. 5.4.11
However, at the end of June – whether or not in response to the delays at Straitgate: the fact that the determination date has been delayed for the 5th time, the fact that AI’s water problems at Straitgate go from bad to worse, the fact that AI’s and Amec’s groundwater predictions are falling apart all over the site, the fact that there are errors the height of houses, or the fact that AI’s infiltration plans can’t work either – with groundwater this close to the surface – AI submitted a new planning application, DCC/4067/2018, for this same stretch of road at Hillhead:
Widening of a 400 metre length of Clay Lane to allow for two-way vehicular movements associated with existing mineral operations
Read into this what you will: why this new application is needed if AI is confident of securing permission in a timely manner for the importation of Straitgate material to Hillhead; why, after delaying the widening of Clay Lane for many years, AI suddenly can't wait until the "inextricably linked" Straitgate and Hillhead applications are decided.
This application is a standalone planning application and is not linked to the currently pending application for importation of sand and gravel from Straitgate Farm into Hillhead Quarry for processing, together with the widening of Clay Lane (DCC/3945/2017). 1.2
AI’s inability to wait no doubt means that this application has less to do with "significant benefit to the local community", or re-routing trucks to avoid passing "4 residential properties", and more to do with the "operational benefits for the existing, permitted activities at Hillhead Quarry and Houndaller Extension".
But, whatever the reason, it’s worth pointing out that the Devon Minerals Plan nevertheless makes the widening of Clay Lane a prerequisite for any workings at nearby Penslade. As AI highlighted in the Supporting Statement for its linked Hillhead application:
The Preferred Area checklist for the Penslade Cross resource at Hillhead makes specific reference to the site access point and the desire for quarry traffic to avoid residential properties through the widening of Clay Lane and the avoidance of use of Broad Path. Rather than wait 10 years or more for a planning application to work the Penslade minerals, for this to become a reality, this application proposes to bring about the widening of Clay Lane much earlier. This must be of great benefit to residential amenity and carry significant weight in the decision making process. 5.5.8
Like Straitgate, Penslade is designated a Preferred Area for sand and gravel extraction in the Devon Minerals Plan. However, unlike Straitgate, it is 23 miles closer to AI’s newly reconstructed processing plant at Hillhead, and has eight times the estimated resource.
Aside from that, if this new Clay Lane application is approved, it would obviously mean that AI’s existing Straitgate and Hillhead applications would no longer bring the so-called "highway infrastructure improvement measures… sufficient to outweigh the negative impact of transporting the Straitgate minerals to Hillhead Quarry" – some 2.5 million HGV miles with associated CO2 and pollution – and would no longer bring "great benefit to residential amenity and carry significant weight in the decision making process".
From which you could conclude anything. Perhaps AI is confident it doesn’t need this great benefit to win the delayed, floundering, inextricably linked Straitgate and Hillhead applications. Alternatively, with all the constraints and an ever-reducing resource, perhaps Straitgate is no longer worth the candle; or, perhaps AI is no longer confident it can win Straitgate at all.
Consultation on the Clay Lane application, DCC/4067/2018, is open until 02/08/2018.
