Last month, we posted about Aggregate Industries' planning application to extend Chard Junction Quarry in the Dorset AONB, highlighting that, even though the company had modified its scheme to quarry 830,000 tonnes of sand and gravel at Westford Park Farm over some 7 years, Natural England still had concerns:
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.
This week, Dorset Council Landscape Officer made their views known. It won’t have been the sort of response Aggregate Industries was hoping for:
I have a concern that a detrimental effect on this part of the AONB is unavoidable with assessment C not being met of the National Planning Policy Framework 2019. The proposed quarry extension with its associated haul road is considered to have the potential for a significant adverse landscape impact on the character of the designated Area of Outstanding Natural beauty.
Assessment C of the National Planning Policy Framework?
172. Great weight should be given to conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty in National Parks, the Broads and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which have the highest status of protection in relation to these issues. The conservation and enhancement of wildlife and cultural heritage are also important considerations in these areas, and should be given great weight in National Parks the Broads. The scale and extent of development within these designated areas should be limited. 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. Consideration of such applications should include an assessment of:
a) the need for the development, including in terms of any national considerations, and the impact of permitting it, or refusing it, upon the local economy;
b) the cost of, and scope for, developing outside the designated area, or meeting the need for it in some other way; and
c) any detrimental effect on the environment, the landscape and recreational opportunities, and the extent to which that could be moderated
Aggregate Industries may be forced back to the drawing board again, but can quarrying ever be compatible with an AONB designation?
