Thursday 20 August 2020

Plans for school and 150 houses at Thorne Farm – objections mount

Objections are mounting against Devon County Council’s planning application 20/1504/MOUT for a primary school – and 150 houses to pay for it – on land at Thorne Farm, a site adjacent to the King’s School in Ottery St Mary, a site outside the Built-Up Area Boundary and not allocated for housing in either the East Devon Local Plan or the Ottery Neighbourhood Plan. The application is open for comments until 23 August.



Last month, we posted that a Mineral Resource Assessment had been commissioned by the Council for this application. The assessment concluded that any minerals under the site would not be sterilised as they were unworkable, partly because a significant increase in HGVs on B3174 Exeter Road from working minerals would be "unlikely to be appropriate".

The school grounds would be little more than 1000m downwind from any sand and gravel quarry at Straitgate Farm. We say little more than 1000m because that’s the distance it would be from the school grounds to the entrance of the quarry proposed by Aggregate Industries – which would see up to 200 HGV movements each day.


Devon County Council, on the other hand – who not only submitted the application for the primary school and 150 homes, but championed the allocation of Straitgate Farm for a sand and gravel quarry in the Devon Minerals Plan despite hundreds of objections – claims in this FAQ:
How close is the Thorne Farm site it [sic] to the proposed new quarry site? There is a proposal for a new quarry at Straitgate Farm, which is approx. 1 mile from the proposed school site. Planning permission has not currently been granted for the quarry. We do not anticipate any adverse impact on the school should the quarry proposal proceed. This issue will be considered fully through the Thorne Farm planning application.
But whether it’s little more than 1000m or "approx. 1 mile", the primary school would be well within range of particulate matter from any quarry at Straitgate, as we posted last year.


As the Government tells us, particulate matter poses a hazard to health:
Particulate matter (PM) is everything in the air that is not a gas and as such it is made up from a huge variety of chemical compounds and materials some which can be toxic. Due to the small size of many of the particles that form PM some of these toxins may enter the bloodstream and be transported around the body, lodging in the heart, brain and other organs. Therefore, exposure to PM can result in serious impacts to health, especially in vulnerable groups of people such as the young, elderly and those with respiratory problems. As a result, particulates are classified according to size. The UK is currently focused on measuring the fractions of PM where particles are less than 10 micrometres in diameter (PM10) and less than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) based on the latest evidence on the effects of PM on health.
Particulate matter can travel long distances, as we posted here.
PM10 particles can travel as little as a hundred yards or as much as 30 miles. PM2.5 particles go even farther; many hundreds of miles.
Aggregate Industries regularly has problems with dust emissions, not only in Devon but further afield:



In 2016 we posted about Dr van Steenis:
Dr van Steenis claims that research shows that no opencast mining should be carried out within three miles of a population, making it almost impossible for development firms to find potential sites in England. The doctor, a former GP, said that tiny dust particles called PM1 and PM2.5 given off by opencast sites have been shown to have a detrimental effect on health.
He said: "The first problem is the bulldozers and the emissions they put out. Problem number two is the stuff that’s thrown up by the bulldozers – it is when these particles get into the breathing tubes that they start up an inflammation which causes asthma."
"It can also lead to health problems such as heart attacks, strokes and clinical depression."
"The fact is that it can only be done safely underground or three miles from a population - in Wales they now have a 500-metre barrier, which is still inappropriate but at least it is a start. In Australia and America they do it about 20 miles away from towns - it is only in England that it is such a free-for-all. The barriers need to be wider."
Particulate matter is not the only problem.

The aim of the proposal at Thorne Farm is to facilitate the relocation of Tipton St John Primary School which has previously suffered from flooding.

However, the new site backs on to the Thorne Farm stream which has also caused flooding in the past. Any quarry upstream, or indeed the development itself, would obviously have the capacity to exacerbate matters. The Flood Risk Assessment provided by consultants working on behalf of Devon County Council claims:
5.2.6 The site has not been identified as having flooded in the past. Given the sites location, setting and topography any historic flooding is likely to be limited to short term local shallow ponding during extreme rainfall events.
This map indicates the historic flooding along this watercourse:



The Environment Agency has objected to Devon County Council's application:
We raise an objection to the proposed development on the grounds that insufficient information has been submitted to fully assess the flood risk to the proposal over the lifetime of the development.
Reason - Most of the development site is located within flood zone 1, however the northern boundary of the development encroaches into flood zone 3, identified by Environment Agency flood maps as having a high probability of flooding. This boundary is also adjacent to the Thorne Farm Stream which is classed as a main river at this location. We have reviewed the Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) prepared by Hamson Barron Smith (dated March 2020). Whilst we have no in-principle objection to the proposal on the basis that the new built development is located in flood zone 1 (low probability of flooding), we advise that further consideration is required in the assessment relating to the Thorne Farm Stream and the potential influence on the development layout.
South West Water has issues with the Flood Risk Assessment too:
It is noted that the FRA submitted with the application proposes a potential discharge of surface water to the public combined sewer in Exeter Road which is unacceptable.
SWW says surface water must either be discharged to the Thorne Farm stream – the one that has caused flooding in the past – or by means of ground infiltration.

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