Friday, 14 August 2020

AI proposes new asphalt plant at Hillhead – with 27m hilltop smokestack

Whilst the application to quarry Straitgate Farm has been fast asleep in the 'too difficult tray' this year, Aggregate Industries has deemed some planning applications worthy of attention.

One that the company has been busy with during lockdown is DCC/4189/2020 for a new asphalt plant at Hillhead Quarry, near Uffculme, at the former In-vessel Composting facility near the Broadpath landfill site. This would replace the asphalt plant at Westleigh Quarry near Burlescombe, which would in time be decommissioned. The application was submitted to Devon County Council this month, and is open for comments until 4 September.

We have posted about Westleigh Quarry before. This is what the site looks like in 2020.




The site was the subject of a Devon County Council consultation, Responding to community concerns, following the findings of a community survey in 2014, with "movement of the asphalt production plant" the top suggestion.



Aggregate Industries now proposes to close the asphalt plant at Westleigh and build a replacement at Hillhead. However, as the Supporting Statement makes clear, this is not because of some new found concern for the well-being of local residents:
The existing Westleigh Asphalt Plant is coming to the end of its operational life and is located on top of permitted reserves within the quarry. It therefore needs to be replaced and a new site found as there is no alternative location available within the quarry. 3.3
...the proposed development at Broadpath prevents a significant amount of mineral being sterilised at Westleigh Quarry. 4.19
It is a development that would however be welcomed by many:
A significant benefit of relocating the asphalt plant from Westleigh is that it will remove the need for night-time vehicle movements through the villages of Canonsleigh and Burlescombe. 3.3
As for a ready supply of material:
The application site is located in close proximity to the active Hillhead sand and gravel quarry which means there is a long term supply of suitable sand for the asphalt process on its doorstep. 1.4


The plant would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and "generate approximately 108 HGV movements per day". There would however be another cost. The main asphalt plant tower would be 24m high and the exhaust stack 27m:



Given the site’s elevated position of 141m AOD, there would be a visual impact on the surrounding landscape; 27m is more than the combined height of 6 double decker buses.


Aggregate Industries' consultants concede:
The most significant components of proposed development in terms of landscape and visual effects relate to the massing and height of plant. 6.46
Here’s the predicted Zone of Significant Visibility; brown denotes areas of High Visibility.


It’s a shocker. The plant and exhaust stack would be visible for miles around.

There is, of course, no historical precedent for putting smokestacks on hilltop positions in Devon, as Aggregate Industries' consultants also concede:
The site falls within the County ‘Culm Valley Lowlands County Character Area’ and landscape character type 3B: ‘Lower Rolling Farmed and Settled Valley Slopes.’ This is a well-wooded landscape with a pastoral character and distant views with no or little development on top of hills. 7.2
The proposal is another example of land not being restored as originally intended:
In the absence of proposed development and under the existing consent the existing facility will be restored to agricultural use on the final restoration of the Broadpath landfill operation, anticipated to occur at the end of 2027. 6.44
Emissions from the 27m smokestack have yet to be addressed:
The assessment excludes potential effects associated with emissions from the proposed exhaust stack. The nature of the emissions and the climatic conditions where they may become visually significant are not known at the time of writing. 6.27
Should planning permission be granted, the asphalt plant will require an Environmental Permit issued by the Environment Agency. The permit covers emissions and odour. Conditions in the permit also control particulate emission from stockpiles, conveyor belts and hard surfaced roads, and puts in place controls which must be complied with by the site. 5.22
On "Climate Change and Sustainability", consultants claim:
The proposed plant will offer improved environmental performance and energy efficiency compared to the Westleigh Quarry plant which is circa 45 years in age. 5.29
Operational constraints at Westleigh Quarry currently prevent the use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the asphalt plant and therefore kerosene is used. LNG is considered a cleaner fuel in terms of CO2 emissions. There are no such constraints with the proposed plant at Broadpath and therefore cleaner fuels could be used subject to a further planning application for the necessary infrastructure. 5.30
But what chance – "subject to a further planning application" – is there of Aggregate Industries employing these cleaner fuels? Is it just something to put against the climate change heading, to tick a box, to make it look as though you care?

Because in 2013, Aggregate Industries launched planning application DCC/3586/2013 for the "Installation of a Liquefied Natural Gas storage container and ancillary operating equipment associated with the existing asphalt coating plant at Westleigh Quarry." There were clearly no "operational constraints at Westleigh Quarry" then, and the company secured consent in 2014. At the time, Aggregate Industries claimed:
The planning application proposes a new lower carbon solution for the operation of the existing burner at the asphalt plant, and would be located in a well screened location adjacent to the existing asphalt plant.
For whatever reason, real or imagined, the planning application was not implemented, the carbon savings were not made, and the permission expired in 2017. This was despite all the back-slapping in 2015 when LNG was introduced at another site nearby:


We made the switch to LNG because it is a cleaner source of energy.
We were previously using kerosene, but LNG is a more cost-effective product to burn. It also produces a lot less carbon, and reducing our carbon footprint is very important for Aggregate Industries.
As well as substantially cutting fuel costs, the project has reduced the amount of CO2 emitted per tonne of asphalt produced at the site by 17%. This cuts Aggregate Industries’ annual emissions by 1,800 tonnes.
You would think that with such benefits Aggregate Industries would want to install LNG at its other asphalt plants. After all, we are in a climate emergency and the company claims:


But since 2015, Aggregate Industries has made no more announcements about switching to LNG. When the company opened its new £3.5m asphalt plant in Godmanchester in 2018 there was no mention of using a "cleaner source of energy".


Clearly, "reducing our carbon footprint" has become less important for Aggregate Industries.

So. What chance of employing LNG at Hillhead at a later date – if it's not being specified now?

Not very much. But when you want to win permission to put a smokestack almost the height of the The Kelpies in Falkirk on top of a Devon hill overlooking the beautiful Culm Valley, you’re obviously prepared to say anything.

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