Highways England’s response to the recent consultation on the additional information supplied by Aggregate Industries in relation to its planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm, which included a revised Transport Assessment, can be found below.
The response, dated 11 May 2021, has yet to appear on Devon County Council’s planning website.
Highways England sought clarification in relation to the Transport Assessment. It is our understanding, however, that no further information has been supplied.
Thank you for consulting Highways England on further information and/or amendments in relation to the Environmental Statement (ES) accompanying the application. Highways England issued its formal planning response to application DCC/3944/2017 dated 9 August 2017 which recommended conditions be attached to any consent the Local Planning Authority was minded to grant. I have attached this for your ease of reference.We are unclear on what recent updates have been made to the submitted Transport Assessment (TA) which is dated July 2018, and therefore approaching three years old. As such we would appreciate clarification on any specific updated transport assessment that the applicant is seeking consultation on.Notwithstanding our request for further clarification, Highways England has recently been consulted on an associated application at Straitgate Farm for a new access to the B3174 Exeter Road to provide a livestock crossing incorporating holding pens (ref: 20/2542/FUL), which I have also attached for your reference.We wish to bring our response to application 20/2542/FUL to your attention to make clear that Highways England cannot support any intensification of frequency or duration of the current cattle crossing movements at Straitgate Farm over those set out in our response and Appendix E of the 2018 TA (West Country Rural email dated 26/02/2018), without appropriate assessment of the impact on the safe and efficient operation of the A30 trunk road.As set out in our response to application 20/2542/FUL, any increase in the frequency and/or duration of closures of the B3174 during the network peak periods when traffic is at its heaviest is likely to result in queues extending back to the A30 which may result in an unacceptable safety impact contrary to paragraph 109 of National Planning Policy Framework (2019) and paragraph 10 of DfT Circular 02/2013 “The Strategic Road Network and the Delivery of Sustainable Development”. Therefore should there be any proposed increase in the frequency and/or duration of closures of the B3174 to facilitate the crossing of livestock, an assessment of the impact of such closures on the safe operation of the A30 trunk road must be undertaken.Therefore in addition to clarification regarding the TA, we wish to seek assurances from the Council that no additional cattle movements (and closures of the B3174) associated with Straitgate Farm will be supported without appropriate assessment of the impact on the safe operation of the A30 trunk road, in consultation with Highways England.
