Aggregate Industries has now supplied further information to East Devon District Council in connection with its planning application 20/2542/FUL for "a new agricultural access to facilitate an efficient crossing point for the current dairy herd at Straitgate Farm" across the B3174 Exeter Road.
This application is required for Aggregate Industries' plans to open a quarry at Straitgate. As the company explained in 2017:
1.5 To supplement the grazing needs of the tenant’s dairy herd it will be the intention of the applicant to provide a new dedicated route for cattle from the existing milking parlour at Straitgate Farm to the land south of Exeter Road. The new route would include a proposed cattle crossing on the B3174 Exeter Road. The number of daily movements over the proposed cattle crossing at times when the dairy herd is grazing the land south of Exeter Road would be twice in each direction.
However, Aggregate Industries has been trying to find a way around this issue for almost four years. The company’s plans would swallow almost 90% of the available pasture for mineral extraction and associated infrastructure. Some 150 dairy cows would need to cross Ottery’s busiest road up to four times daily to replacement pasture.
Nevertheless, we are all aware of the problem, including – as we discovered through a FOI request – Devon County Council’s Chief Planner, who in November 2017 remarked:
...it seems to me that it [is] inherently unsafe to have any beasts crossing such a fast straight road.
After four years, Aggregate Industries now thinks it’s found the solution – judging by new documents lodged with EDDC.
Following on from our last post on the issue, a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit has now been supplied, with the recommendation that flashing amber lights be installed "positioned 20m from crossing point".
If that was all that were needed, you might rightly wonder why all the delay.
The problem is – it’s not all that is needed. Flashing lights will do nothing to solve the potential delays – including to emergency vehicles on their way to Ottery’s hospital. Flashing lights will do nothing to stop vehicles backing up to the A30 Daisymount junction. As Barack Obama famously said: "You can put lipstick on a pig - it's still a pig".
Even the Traffic Signs Manual document supplied by Aggregate Industries confirms this is no fix:
10.6 Such signing is not intended as a solution for anticipated problems on planned new roads, major improvements, or where at other sites the movement of cattle would frequently obstruct traffic for a period of more than three minutes.
Clearly, we're not talking about 3 minutes here. We’re talking about a herd of 150 slow moving dairy cows, not a herd of galloping wildebeest. We’re talking about closing the main route into and out of Ottery for an hour each day – four crossings of 15 minutes each.
And lest we forget, the position Aggregate Industries has chosen for this cattle crossing has a visibility distance of only 160m, which does not even meet the required minimum, given that the 85th percentile vehicle speed eastbound was recorded as 58.2 mph:
But let’s look at the Stage 1 Road Safety Audit from one-man-band outfit "Sterling Road Safety". How did it conclude that the absence of advanced warning signage was the only problem? What information were the auditors provided? Who briefed them? According to the RSA:
1.5 The Road Safety Audit was undertaken in accordance with the Road Safety Audit Brief instructions provided…
1.12 Paragraph 2.1 of the Audit Brief describes the proposals and the livestock movements involved. In the interests of clarity, the Auditor’s understanding of this is that:… No additional livestock movements are proposed and crossings will occur at broadly similar frequencies and times of day as at present;
Who supplied that brief? Why, Aggregate Industries’ very own traffic consultant, of course.
So the recommendation for flashing lights is on the basis that:
2.1 The Auditors have noted that the proposals do not change the number of crossings undertaken or the eastbound SSD, and also that livestock should be in the carriageway for less time than at present. The reduced exposure time should reduce the likelihood of collisions occurring.
Livestock in the carriageway for LESS time than at present is plainly a bonkers assumption, given that if almost 90% of the grazing pasture from the farm were taken for quarrying, the farmer would be forced to seek alternative pasture on the south side of the road; 150 cows would be forced to cross the road up to four times daily during the lifetime of the quarry.
The auditors have evidently not even read Aggregate Industries’ own Supporting Statement for the same application which tells us:
3.1 The application proposal comprises the construction of a new agricultural access to facilitate an efficient crossing point for the current dairy herd at Straitgate Farm.
Currently, this location is NOT a regular crossing point for the current dairy herd – so how on earth can LESS movements be assumed? Given these misguided assumptions, the conclusions of Aggregate Industries’ RSA are patently worthless, and so therefore is the proposal to rely on flashing lights.
The application is open for comments until 24 March.
