Last year, we posted about Aggregate Industries’ plans for a new asphalt plant at Hillhead, how planning application DCC/4189/2020 sought permission to build a 27m high asphalt plant – taller than 6 double decker buses – in an elevated position overlooking the Culm Valley, and how Devon County Council’s Landscape Officer concluded the application was "contrary to relevant landscape policies [providing] grounds for refusal".
This conclusion was based on Aggregate Industries’ Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment. The Landscape Officer had suggested:
The applicant should be given opportunity to provide... additional views and visualisations as a LVIA addendum for the benefit of decision-makers.
Photos should be taken in winter when trees are bare - to show worst case visibility.
An addendum of additional views was subsequently provided. Aggregate Industries’ consultant argued:
Whilst there would undoubtedly be adverse effects on the quality of some rural views, these will be not so great as to cause unacceptable levels of harm on visual amenity or landscape character.
Devon County Council’s Landscape Officer has now responded to this document, saying:
It is not appropriate for the LVIA assessor to state whether the effects are acceptable - this is a matter for decision makers when weighing the benefits against the harm in the planning balance.
The Landscape Officer concludes that the proposal is still contrary to local plan policies:
the development could not be fully integrated into the landscape without the upper parts of the development, including the stack and plume emissions, presenting an incongruous industrial intrusion onto rural skylines rising above surrounding mature woodland as perceived in numerous views within the Culm Valley Lowlands. Such effects are understated in the LVIA and would, in my opinion be significant as the development would extend the visual influence of industrial development at the site to a far greater area than is the case with the existing development, and would detract from, rather than conserve and enhance, the rural agricultural character of the Culm Valley Lowlands and its valued scenic quality as a gateway into Devon. The proposals would not make a positive contribution to the local landscape character. I therefore consider that the proposals are contrary to policy M18 and M20 of the Devon Minerals Plan and Policy DM1 of the Mid Devon Local Plan. Whether the proposed mitigation reduces adverse effects to acceptable levels as required through policy M18 is a matter for decision-makers.
The Officer references Devon’s Landscape Character Assessment, which describes the Culm Valley Lowlands as:
A very important ‘gateway’ into Devon for people arriving by car on the M5 and A38, and also by train.
The DLCA should:
Protect and enhance the characteristic ‘patchwork’ landscape, particularly where it forms a ‘gateway’ into Devon from the M5, A38 and railway line.
The Landscape Officer says:
In my opinion, the proposals are inconsistent with these LCA guidelines and could not be accommodated without harming or eroding the special qualities and distinctive characteristics and valued features of the landscape influenced by the proposals.
The application will come before Devon County Council’s DMC on 21 April, after Aggregate Industries – in contrast to its 6-year application for Straitgate Farm – sought an early determination:
A delay beyond April could result in us losing the opportunity of securing this site from Viridor which, being located adjacent to existing mineral workings and future allocations in the Devon Minerals Plan with excellent access onto the A38 and M5, we believe to be an excellent long-term location for a new asphalt plant to serve this part of Devon...
We consider that the opportunity to acquire the Broadpath Site for a replacement asphalt plant is of strategic importance both to Aggregate Industries and the local community as it will enable existing asphalt production to be relocated from Westleigh Quarry and therefore respectfully request that this application is determined as soon as possible.
