A new year – yet another in this long-running saga – and another person responsible for Aggregate Industries’ attempts to quarry Straitgate Farm has moved on to pastures new.
Chris Herbert, Planning Manager South, has, we have been informed, left the company to pursue new opportunities.
Over the last five years, Chris has been tasked with overseeing the company’s efforts to firstly win planning permission from Devon County Council, and then, when that failed, to appeal the refusal, and then, when permission was finally – and, to some, surprisingly – granted by the Planning Inspectorate, to implement the heavily-conditioned permission.
It was Chris who provided us with monthly updates on the company’s progress in relation to implementing the permission. Today, Aggregate Industries said "we have no further update at this time."
The company has until 5 January 2026 to implement its planning permission for Straitgate.
Many personnel at Aggregate Industries have come and gone over the many years that we have been striving to save Straitgate. For instance, the company fielded three representatives at the Development Management Committee meeting in December 2021, when permission was originally refused. For whatever reasons, all three – the other two here and here – have now left the company.
Could the last Aggregate Industries' person leaving the Straitgate project kindly turn out the lights?
