Aggregate Industries has been operating its asphalt plant at Rockbeare without planning permission since 2014. We’ve posted on this issue before. AI submitted a planning application in 2016 to continue operations, despite the fact that production of the aggregate feedstock is no longer carried out at Rockbeare or anywhere nearby.
Permission has now finally been granted, following:
the signing of a s106 agreement to financially offset the loss of replacement woodland originally proposed within the ROMP consent, reference 7/11/98/P0050, will provide for compensatory work in a location yet to be determined.
It is proposed that the sum of £10410 will be payable to Devon County Council, via a s106 legal agreement, and an appropriate biodiversity project(s) will be sought by the County Ecologist and the funds allocated accordingly.
On the question of the suitability and sustainability of this location, given that any processing of minerals was last carried out at Rockbeare in 1994, DCC's view is that:
Objective 1 seeks to minimise transportation distances for mineral development, as does Policy M22. While aggregates are no longer quarried at Rockbeare Hill, and the asphalt plant is therefore supplied with aggregates quarried elsewhere, transportation of aggregates from quarry to asphalt plant is only one part of the equation, as transportation of the asphalt to its point of use should also be considered. Rockbeare Hill is very well located in relation to the A30 and development areas in and to the east of Exeter, and is also located adjacent to the depot for South West Highways. The plant requires a mix of different aggregates for its products, so location of the plant at any one quarry would still require transportation of aggregates from other quarries.
Removal of the Rockbeare Hill plant would therefore leave a gap in this network and mean increased transportation distances from other asphalt plants to the Exeter/East Devon markets.
