A planning application 22/01893/MFUL for 40 dwellings at Chapel Hill, on the northern edge of Uffculme, has been refused by Mid Devon District Council, in part because the development was "contrary to Policy M2 of the Devon Minerals Plan Safeguarding".
Unpopular 40 homes plan for Devon village refusedhttps://t.co/e5AmmZ7uzL
— Devon Live News (@DevonLiveNews) January 2, 2023
Devon County Council introduced Mineral Safeguarding Areas in 2017 in its adopted Minerals Plan, with the "aim to secure valuable mineral resources from sterilisation by new development, to ensure that they remain available for use by future generations". Policy M2 of that plan says:
Mineral resources and infrastructure within the Mineral Safeguarding Areas defined on the Policies Map will be protected from sterilisation or constraint by non-mineral development within or close to those Areas by permitting such development if:(a) it can be demonstrated through a Mineral Resource Assessment and in consultation with the relevant mineral operators that the mineral resource or infrastructure concerned is not of current or potential economic or heritage value; or(b) the mineral resource can be extracted satisfactorily prior to the non-mineral development taking place under the provisions of Policy M3; or(c) the non-mineral development is of a temporary nature and can be completed and the site restored to a condition that does not inhibit extraction or operation within the timescale that the mineral resource or infrastructure is likely to be needed; or(d) there is an overriding strategic need for the non-mineral development; or(e) it constitutes exempt development, as set out in the exemption criteria.
Having 40 new homes no closer than 200m away from the entrance of Hillhead Quarry – the location proposed to process material from Straitgate Farm, where quarry workings would be less than 100m from local residents – clearly presented too much risk to the peaceful activities of Aggregate Industries, who objected by saying:
Hillhead is an important sand and gravel quarry, which produces a significant proportion of the County’s sand and gravel aggregate and if the proposed development were to proceed it would present a constraint not just to the future potential extraction of the mineral resource identified in the Devon Minerals Plan, but also to the current extraction at Hillhead Quarry.
Objections were also raised by Devon County Council and the Devon Stone Federation.
