Devon County Council is tasked with producing an annual Local Aggregate Assessment which includes information on sand and gravel production and reserve levels.
The Council's 8th LAA was published in May 2020. At the time, we posted DCC says correlation 'broken' between aggregate sales and housing completions. It confirmed the long-term decline in sand and gravel sales in Devon. Since then, sales of sand and gravel have fallen further – as shown here. Last month, we posted that Sales of sand and gravel in Devon were down 12.6% in 2020.
This week, the Council published its 9th and 10th LAAs for the years 2010-2019 and for 2011-2020 respectively. The LAA highlights the ongoing decline in sales:
For the three years to 2020, the average sales were 2.439 million tonnes for crushed rock and 0.493 million tonnes for sand and gravel, both falling below the ten years average for the first time in recent years.
There has also been a significant "reassessment" of mineral reserves during 2020.
At the end of 2019, reserves of sand and gravel were 4.199 million tonnes, and reserves of crushed rock 95.378 million tonnes. In 2020, after sales of 0.437 million tonnes of sand and gravel and 2.289 million tonnes of crushed rock, reserves had fallen to 2.880 and 81.323 million tonnes respectively – a loss in reserves of 0.9 million tonnes and 11.8 million tonnes in excess of sales.
How careless. The LAA says:
This can be attributed to a reassessment of reserves by operators.
In other words, operators had overestimated the available resource, even misrepresenting the benefit at the time of applying for planning permission – something Aggregate Industries has made a habit.
What about more sustainable sources of aggregates? The most recent LAA tells us that "despite the pandemic, sales of secondary aggregates increased by 2% in 2020 from the previous year":
In addition to the existing sources of secondary aggregates outlined above, [there are] other potential sources that may be available in the future. This includes secondary aggregates from the processing of waste from tungsten and tin extraction at Drakelands Mine, near Plymouth, which commenced extraction in summer 2015 but ceased in autumn 2018. A new owner is looking to recommence operations at the site shortly.
