Nearly twelve months have elapsed since Aggregate Industries was granted planning permission to quarry Straitgate Farm.
This week, with regards to the implementation of this permission, the company has said it has nothing to report for the last two months of the year, adding "the plan is to pick things up and get them moving in the New Year".
If such updates are to be believed, this means that Aggregate Industries has undertaken no activity in relation to the site for the last 6 months – with little activity of note before that.*
The company must satisfy a number of pre-commencement conditions and obligations before any mineral extraction can start.
* We asked Aggregate Industries:
According to your updates, Aggregate Industries has done nothing with regard to Straitgate for the last six months or so, apart from sending a letter to the PWS owners - can you confirm this is correct?
Tellingly, the company was unwilling to issue any such confirmation, other than to say:
I can confirm that we have complied with the undertakings contained within our planning permission and that the permission gives us 3 years within which to implement the permission.
