According to email correspondence, released through an FOI request, Aggregate Industries told Devon County Council in March 2020:
...we are currently awaiting CAPEX approval before we can formally instruct Wood (Amec) to update the composite Maximum Winter Water Table Grid the EA requires to include the high groundwater level recorded at the site in 1990 and similarly, this is the case with one or two other issues.
WTF. Really?? How much does it cost to update a few groundwater contours on a plan?
It wasn’t until July 2020 that Aggregate Industries could happily report back to the Council:
I have just had the 'green light' from the business to restart progress on the Straitgate application with the release of capital monies to complete the outstanding information.
Goodness. Is Aggregate Industries so short of money?
Or has the irrational pursuit of Straitgate Farm's sand and gravel devoured so much capital that strict spending limits are now in place?
Or is the company not so bothered with Straitgate now, knowing the resource amounts to only 5% of what was originally thought possible?
Or has the penny dropped that mineral extraction at Straitgate is never going to be profitable – not with a 46-mile round trip for processing the as-dug material, before any onward distribution, not with the current price of diesel and the shortage of HGV drivers?
Let’s hope, if the worst happens, there’s enough money left in the kitty to actually restore the site!
