Aggregate Industries has again failed to meet an agreed extension for determination of its planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm – the company's 10th such extension.
In March, Aggregate Industries and Devon County Council agreed to extend the determination date of the company's planning application to 31 October. This extension has now been missed, given that submission of further information would require at least 30 days of public consultation before the DMC meeting of 21 October.
When we posted in April we asked:
What will be achieved in these months – in the face of a global pandemic and the economic depression that will inevitably follow – that wasn’t achieved during the other months since the application first went live in June 2015? No one would be surprised if the answer were somewhere between zero and nothing.
And indeed no one will be surprised. Aggregate Industries has made no attempt to progress its application for Straitgate during the last 6 months, even if it did find the time and inclination to submit planning applications for nearby Marshbroadmoor and Hillhead.
Some planning applications are no doubt easier than others.
What might Aggregate Industries do now, with the construction industry in dire straits due to the worsening Covid-19 situation, and with aggressive plans by the Drakelands’ operator to flood the South West for evermore with a cheap source of secondary aggregate?
Whatever Aggregate Industries does, we can be sure that our council will continue to entertain the company’s moribund scheme for Straitgate Farm – as it has done pliantly for the last 5 years.
