The Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty "is a collection of stunning landscapes and is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its designation as a nationally important protected landscape." Dorset AONB Partnership is tasked with looking after this landscape:
Our mission is to help make sure that our special landscapes are handed to future generations in good shape.
The purpose of any AONB designation is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the designated landscape. Mineral extraction does the reverse. It is therefore a designation that has caused problems for Aggregate Industries.
In the not-so-distant past, the UK subsidiary of Franco-Swiss cement giant LafargeHolcim attempted to extend operations in the East Devon AONB, as part of its planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm. Things didn’t go well. Aggregate Industries couldn’t demonstrate the "exceptional circumstances" needed by the NPPF for major development in an AONB, and the company’s planning application to haul winnings from Straitgate across the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths to be processed on Woodbury Common was eventually pulled. The site at Blackhill – which had suffered from quarrying for decades – is now being restored, apart from one area where industrial development was subsequently permitted. The company now proposes to process Straitgate material at its Uffculme plant instead.
Aggregate Industries will therefore be hoping for a better outcome for its planning application WD/D/19/000451 to extend Chard Junction Quarry at Westford Park Farm, a proposal with "an estimated life of 7 years" to work a now reduced amount of approximately 830,000 tonnes of sand and gravel.
The site straddles a county boundary. Somerset County Council considered it "appropriate for Dorset County Council to determine the application in its entirety" based on a report involving Devon County Council’s Minerals Officer – the same officer who championed the Straitgate Farm site so enthusiastically almost a decade ago now. The world of minerals planning is a small one.
The proposal is next to the River Axe in the Dorset AONB. Aggregate Industries claims it’s the "specialist nature of the mineral from Chard Quarry that makes it impractical to locate the quarry outside the AONB" – namely the mineral’s aesthetics, its "texture, physical properties and golden colour". Furthermore:
Chard Junction Quarry is in a unique logistical position in the marketplace, ideally suited to serve the rural markets in East Devon, South Somerset and West Dorset... The extension at Westford Park Farm would provide a further 5 years provision... 4.1.9
However, NPPF paragraph 172 is clear about "major development" in an AONB:
Planning permission should be refused for major development other than in exceptional circumstances, and where it can be demonstrated that the development is in the public interest.
The initial response from Natural England recommended the application be refused:
Natural England considers that the application is likely to lead to a significant and permanent detrimental effects on the protected landscape of the Dorset AONB.
It's certainly difficult to see how Aggregate Industries' existing workings at Chard Junction have enhanced the natural beauty of the designated AONB landscape.
Dorset AONB Partnership was unconvinced there were "exceptional circumstances" for the proposal:
I note that the applicant has submitted information in support of their view that the proposal is able to meet the requirements of an exceptional circumstances test. In my opinion, there are aspects of the arguments presented that are uncompelling. Concerning the need for the development, it is recognised that the site is not contained within the Council’s Mineral Sites Plan and that there is no anticipated landbank shortfall over the next 7 years or the life of the Plan.
In my opinion, the effects arising from this proposal clearly conflict with the statutory purpose of the AONB designation. I am not satisfied that the proposed mitigation measures, including measures such as phased extraction and tree planting, would satisfactorily address the major impact that the development would have on the character and appearance of the AONB during the operational phase. The major adverse effect of the operation of the proposed extension on the undeveloped, tranquil and remote character of the site and its context clearly compromise the special qualities of the AONB, placing the application in conflict with a wide range of Management Plan policies, as listed earlier. Furthermore, the major adverse effects on views within and into the AONB clearly diminish the natural beauty of a sizable portion of land within the designated area.
Since then, Aggregate Industries has made modifications, including "improved restoration contours", the use of a silt press to allow earlier restoration of silt lagoons, and £250,000 of "restoration benefits" over 30 years. Natural England remains unconvinced:
Taking account of the proposed modifications Natural England advises that the proposed extension should still be considered as a "major" development in the context of National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) paragraph 172 and so your authority will need to be satisfied the proposals can meet the policy’s "exceptional circumstances" tests.
Although the scheme is a substantial improvement on the previous proposals the scheme will nevertheless inevitably result in the loss of fields of a rural character within a natural landform in the Axe Valley Character Area. The final restored fields and associated habitats will make a notable extension to the areas of restored quarries within the general locality resulting in unavoidable detrimental effects on the protected landscape of the Dorset AONB.
That was earlier this month. Who knows what will happen next? Quarrying started at Chard Junction in the 1940s. Without this extension the company says the site will close. Back in December 2018:
At current extraction rates of circa 200,000 tonnes per annum there is approximately 12 months permitted reserves remaining. The urgent need for an extension is clear.
So, in theory, given it's now 2020, Aggregate Industries should have already depleted its permitted reserves, and given that the application is still to be determined and, according to the Planning Statement, "the proposed working scheme requires a number of actions prior to the commencement of mineral extraction" – haul road, screening bunds etc – to be "carried out over two quarters in Year 1", unless the company has a cunning plan, or mountains of stockpiled minerals, there may not be any mineral to sell for some time. Perhaps disappointing sales in 2020 have allowed the company to eke out supplies; the trend in recent years has been clear:
In 2015 sales from Chard Junction Quarry were 196,000 tonnes, in 2016 sales of 192,000 tonnes and in 2017 sales of 186,000 tonnes. 5.2.7
Aggregate Industries claims:
The proposed extension area is the last phase of workable resource and there are no viable alternative extension areas that have not already been worked. The proposed extension area will utilise the existing site infrastructure and processing facilities. 5.3
The 'do nothing option' is not a practical option for Aggregate Industries. Closing the site and leaving workable reserves in situ will effectively sterilise them. Given the size of the proposed extension area it would not be economically viable to close and reopen the site at some point in the future as an independent operation. Maintaining production sustains current employment for the next few years. 5.4
And yet it is apparently economically viable to open a new greenfield site at Straitgate to quarry a similar amount of material?
The do nothing option might not be "a practical option for Aggregate Industries" at Chard – although the extension would only buy 5 years' worth of material before the problem rears its head again. But clearly the market would cope. The company admits that "In theory, the quarry’s current aggregate supply could be absorbed by competitors", but its Non Technical Summary is at pains to point out:
If Chard Junction Quarry was closed, there would be a considerable increase in transport costs and extra road miles to meet local markets in the west of the County and beyond in Somerset and Devon.
And it is here we get to the nub of Aggregate Industries’ argument that it should be allowed to continue to despoil an AONB:
In terms of the AONB... there are no suitable alternative sites which are capable of supplying the existing markets at Chard Junction Quarry without significant increases in transportation costs which would increase carbon emissions. 10.6.8
You see, Aggregate Industries is happy to use green arguments when it suits. The company points to the carbon benefits of continued working in the AONB:
The reduction of carbon emissions and minimising transportation distances is an important consideration supporting the proposal. 4.1.10
But let’s put Aggregate Industries' sudden concern for the climate into context. The application proposes that "a designated haul road will be used to transport sand and gravel back to the existing Chard Junction Quarry for processing." The length of this haul road is around 600m.
The length of the haul road Aggregate Industries has proposed for its Straitgate Farm application – that Devon County Council with its declared Climate Emergency will need to decide upon – is 23 miles to the processing plant, 46 miles for each round trip, 2.5 million miles in all.
Staggering then – given this climate-busting 2.5 million mile proposal – that Aggregate Industries has the gall to remind Dorset Council about its declared Climate Emergency:
In terms of a reduction of carbon emissions and minimising transportation distances, at its very first Full Council meeting in May 2019, the Council took the step to declare a Climate Emergency. This means the Council are: • taking direct action to reduce the negative environmental impact of Council services; • using Council services to support and influence Dorset communities and organisations to reduce their carbon footprint; and • working with partners to develop the Council's climate emergency plan. 4.1.11
Think about the 2.5 million mile proposal for Straitgate, when Aggregate Industries reminds us that "the planning process will be critical in ensuring that the aggregates …are sourced and transported in ways that minimise emissions of greenhouse gases":
In order to be able to look for savings in the carbon footprint associated with aggregate minerals, the planning process will be critical in ensuring that the aggregates required to meet this demand are sourced and transported in ways that minimise emissions of greenhouse gases. This planning application provides the Council with some scope to reduce the carbon footprint associated with the supply of primary aggregates in Dorset and will ensure that the demand from local markets and beyond in Somerset and Devon are sourced and transported in ways that minimise emissions of greenhouse gases. In view of national policy and the Council's Climate Emergency aims, the reduction in carbon emissions and minimising transportation distances is an important consideration. 4.1.13
Therefore, it is considered that given the clear and substantive benefits that this scheme can bring to this part of the AONB, the carbon and climate change benefits of retaining a sand and gravel quarry within this location, the associated benefits to the local economy and the acceptable environmental and technical assessments, the proposed extension at Westford Park Farm is in the public interest and the proposal meets the exceptional circumstances tests set out in the NPPF. 4.1.20
But it’s not just concerns about the AONB. Aggregate Industries’ planning application for Chard Junction may have attracted less objections than for Straitgate, but concerns have nevertheless been raised on the impact of dust, noise, visual impact, and the effect on groundwater.
The impact on groundwater has been an overriding concern for Aggregate Industries' plans for Straitgate too. Just last month, Prof Brassington warned Devon County Council that a quarry at Straitgate would ‘irreversibly damage’ water sources.
In contrast to the numerous supplies dependent on Straitgate, however, at Chard Junction just one private water supply is thought to be at risk. Aggregate Industries’ consultants argue the effects on the private water supply at Westford Park Farm Well would be "Minor – Not Significant", but recognise:
The Westford Park Farm Well is, however, sensitive to changes in groundwater level, and it is recommended that ... an alternative water supply is provided in the unlikely event of derogation of the private water supply resulting from mineral development. 7.1.8
Last week, the Environment Agency – not the person overseeing Straitgate – took a different view:
The report concludes that the risk to Westford Park Farm Well is 'minor - not significant'. However, we view the risk to this well as being significant because it is only 10m from the boundary of the extraction area and because the river terrace gravels aquifer from which it abstracts is very limited in extent.
The report supports a Section 106 agreement being put in place requiring that an alternative water supply is provided if the Westford Park Farm Well is derogated as a result of the mineral development. We recommend that any Section 106 agreement provides for an alternative supply in the event that either the quantity or quality of water abstracted from the well are impacted... If the Westford Park Farm Well is impacted by the development then any replacement water supply will need to operate in perpetuity. This should be borne in mind when drafting the Section 106 agreement.
Indeed. In perpetuity. It would need to be the same for the long list of private water users around Straitgate, including farms, businesses and Grade I Cadhay with its mediaeval fishponds.
Incidentally, isn't it funny how many people disagree with the conclusions of the not-so-independent hydrogeologists batting enthusiastically for Aggregate Industries? It won’t surprise anyone to learn that the consultants who assessed the hydrogeology at Chard Junction – "Wood Environmental & Infrastructure Solutions UK Ltd", the ones who concluded 'minor - not significant' for the impact on a supply 10m from the quarry edge – were the very same ones whose "conceptual model of the groundwater environment" at Straitgate Farm has been so comprehensively rubbished.
It will be interesting – in a minerals way – to see how the Chard application proceeds. We will post again should anything noteworthy happen.
