One of the first posts on this blog, back in 2012, asked: Could Straitgate be quarried without water?
We noted that Exeter Airport's request that "no ponds or body of water be allowed as part of this development" to ensure aircraft safety from bird strikes, would surely be an impediment to any scheme.
And indeed this impediment has now been formalised.
Earlier this year, the Planning Inspectors, in granting permission to quarry Straitgate Farm, conditioned:
As we posted in January, this makes Aggregate Industries' plans for Straitgate incompatible with the Inspectors’ planning conditions, given that the company's approved plans rely on the formation of water bodies – both for flood mitigation and for restoration. As we wrote, the Inspectors' condition:
...is clear and unambiguous. It is not limited by the size or duration of any water body – large or small, permanent or temporary.
What exactly is a water body? As we previously posted:
Wikipedia says "The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as ponds, wetlands, or more rarely, puddles." LawInsider goes further. This helpful graphic also explains.
In that 2012 post, we wrote about Aggregate Industries' nearby sand and gravel quarries at Blackhill and Hillhead, quarries that extracted the same type of material from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds that would be extracted at Straitgate Farm. We wrote that Google Earth images:
...reveal several bodies of water in each and it is inconceivable that Straitgate, particularly with all its water related issues, could ever be quarried without the formation of ponds or lagoons of some kind.
In fact, Hillhead suffered ponding problems only this year.
Further back, we posted how the water body at Aggregate Industries' quarry at Thorn Tree Plantation at Blackhill was meant to be ephemeral but is instead present all year round.
The company's quarry at Venn Ottery also suffered ponding issues.
Hanson’s Town Farm Quarry works the same type of material and also has bodies of water.
But let's build on that 2012 post, and, using Google Earth’s historical imaging, look at all five BSPB quarries in Devon that have been worked in recent times. The images below show the quarries at Venn Ottery, Marshbroadmoor at Rockbeare, Thorn Tree Plantation at Blackhill, Houndaller at Hillhead and Town Farm, at a time when extraction was actually underway.
 |
| Venn Ottery |
 |
| Marshbroadmoor |
 |
| Thorn Tree Plantation |
 |
| Houndaller |
 |
| Town Farm |
Clearly, sizeable new bodies of water were introduced at all of them.
So, even if we were to overlook Aggregate Industries' flood mitigation and restoration plans for Straitgate – that actually encourage water bodies – the above images underline, if any more underlining were needed, just how unworkable the whole scheme really is.
