Aggregate Industries wants to turn a quiet rural lane in East Devon – a lane used by the public for dog-walking, jogging, horse riding, etc, and by school children waiting for and being dropped-off by buses – into a site access road for up to 200 HGV movements a day. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, according to AI. The company already has problems with an access road elsewhere:
Matthew Sharpe, Quarry Operations Manager at Aggregate Industries, comments: "We take the issue of public safety incredibly seriously and would like to warn visitors of the dangers of wandering off the designated footpaths on to high-traffic access roads following a number of incidents in recent years which have raised concerns."
We have advanced safer alternative plans that would avoid members of the public – including children – having to walk on roads used to transport quarry materials. To date, these plans have fallen on deaf ears – undermining those public safety claims from AI.
Here's the photo MP Sir Hugo Swire tweeted after his recent meeting with AI and its highways consultant where these access arrangements were discussed. Hugo Swire had previously written that "road safety and the transport of children is causing me real concern". We can only imagine what the representative from AI is telling our MP:
the school children would be... er... right there... er... umm yes, that is where our 44-tonne artics would umm enter and umm exit the site... but... er... we do take the issue of public safety incredibly seriously... incidents on access roads elsewhere?... er... er... er... well, now you come to mention it, we have had a spot of bother in Cambridge... umm... but we do take the issue of public safety incredibly seriously...
