Marshbroadmoor: Covid-19 means AI needs more time to import restoration material

Whilst the company’s planning application for Straitgate Farm sits in perpetual limbo, Aggregate Industries is finding time for other planning matters.

We’ve already posted how the company found time to submit plans for a new asphalt plant at Hillhead – with its 27m high hilltop smokestack.

Now, Aggregate Industries has found time to make another planning application, this time in relation to Marshbroadmoor near Rockbeare. DCC/4197/2020 seeks "Variation of Condition 3 of planning permission DCC/4132/2019 to allow the importation of material until 31 March 2021."

Permission was granted to work Marshbroadmoor back in 1995. Twenty five years on, this small parcel of land – that has yielded no more than a few hundred thousand tonnes of sand and gravel – has still not been restored.

Devon County Council approved planning application DCC/4132/2019 in December last year, with Condition 3 stipulating that "restoration shall be phased in strict accordance with the letter dated 20 November 2019" and that:

The importation of material at the area known as Marshbroadmoor outlined on drawing no. 2647-4-1-DR-0005 S5-P9 (dated December 2019) must cease by 30 September 2020.

Aggregate Industries is claiming exceptional circumstances again. Not this time as an argument to despoil an AONB – currently the Dorset AONB – but because of Covid-19:

Due to the exceptional circumstances of the Covid 19 pandemic inputs at Marshbroadmoor have not been as expected and we are therefore seeking a short time extension of 6 months to the 31 March 2021 to continue importing material to complete the approved restoration works.

We hope the Council will recognise that these are events wholly outside the control of the company and will support this short time extension as it will assist in supporting the local businesses as the local economy continues to recover.

Aggregate Industries claims the requested extension will not delay overall restoration of the site, due by 30 December 2021. Time will tell.

Rockbeare site up for sale

It wasn’t many years ago that Aggregate Industries was saying the derelict concrete products plant at Rockbeare was being set aside as an alternative location to process any material from nearby Straitgate. In fact, Straitgate was included in the Devon Minerals Plan on the basis that processing could be carried out at Rockbeare.

Prior to this, Aggregate Industries was even arguing:

It is this Company’s view that there is an inextricable link between Straitgate Farm and the Rockbeare Minerals Working Area...

And that furthermore:

Working the reserve at Straitgate Farm initially and possibly wholly through our existing mineral site at Rockbeare we believe is both efficient and has environmental benefits.

That’s all in the past now. In 2016, Waycon Precast Ltd took over the site, having secured a bridging loan. One director remarked:

The company now has a really bright future and, importantly, jobs have been secured.

Last year, Waycon Precast Ltd went into administration, with a long list of creditors, including Aggregate Industries owed £75k. The business was subsequently acquired on a pre-pack basis by Waycon CP Ltd.

The site is now up for rent and sale:

Offers sought in excess of £2,750,000 for the long leasehold interest in the property subject to contract and exclusive of VAT.

Currently, the site is:

Let to an established tenant until 31st December 2020 at £240,000 pa.

DCC approves Rockbeare application

We have previously posted about this planning application, DCC/4132/2019, most recently here. The application sought "to continue importation of inert soils and subsoil to allow for revised restoration contours at Marshbroadmoor including a revised restoration scheme at Rockbeare Quarry", and proposed "a reduction in end date for the restoration of the Rockbeare site to the 31 December 2028".

On 23 December 2019, Devon County Council approved the application with conditions – including on airport safeguarding.

The officer’s report reminds us that "Rockbeare Quarry has been the subject of a number of planning permissions to work sand and gravel dating from a 1947 IDO permission."

Aggregate Industries' consultants have previously been at pains to remind us, including in documents to support the application:

The effects associated with the operational development will generally be considered to be temporary in nature, mineral development and restoration representing a temporary use of the land.

Which may be so, but 1947 to 2028 is for many people a lifetime. If restoration brings any benefits, don't expect to be alive to see them.

Another example of that temporary use of the land can be seen at Pinhoe Quarry where:

Exeter City Council’s planning committee backed officer recommendations to approve the details of 380 new homes

Outline consent had been granted in 2012, and extensive earthworks followed. By last year:

It is hoped the first homes will be ready to move into during December 2020 with the whole development expected to take around eight years to complete.

Pinhoe Quarry had an even longer history than Rockbeare:

Clay extraction for the use of brick making is recorded as taking place at the site since 1905, with planning permissions for Pinhoe Quarry granted in 1947 and 1969... The clay extracted from the site was used in the production of bricks at the works opposite the quarry. Both the brickworks and quarry operations ceased in 2006.

Rockbeare update

Further documents have now been supplied in connection with Aggregate Industries' planning application DCC/4132/2019 "to continue importation of inert soils and subsoil to allow for revised restoration contours at Marshbroadmoor including a revised restoration scheme at Rockbeare Quarry."

We have already posted on this application: AI launches another retrospective planning application, AI’s latest plans for Marshbroadmoor & Rockbeare in trouble already, Natural England tells AI to make space for sand martins at Rockbeare, Both AI’s recent planning applications for Devon have run into problems with the EA.

Aggregate Industries, through its agent, says:

The changes deliver a significant reduction in the timescales for restoring Marshbroadmoor and the remaining areas of the Rockbeare site; provide a solution for securing the restoration of the RB2 void and provide long term alternative habitat for nesting sand martins at Beggars Roost.

It’s not clear how these revised proposals answer the concerns of Exeter Airport, which objected on the grounds of aviation safety, given that "any additional tree planting and landscaping works in this area have the potential to further increase the surface penetrations that Exeter Airport already suffers."

Nevertheless, as we previously posted:

Mineral extraction at Rockbeare dates from 1947 and at Marshbroadmoor from 1997. The retrospective application seeks to amend the restoration scheme such that the "final restoration of Marshbroadmoor will be completed by April 2022" and "the timeframe for restoration of Rockbeare… remains up to 21st of February 2042."

Now, "a reduction in end date for the restoration of the Rockbeare site to the 31 December 2028 at the latest" has been proposed.

However, let’s not get carried away. If you look at the recent monitoring reports for Rockbeare – for 2019, 2018 and 2017 – you will see it has been a protracted effort to get Aggregate Industries to restore this site. Throughout these reports you will see the comment:

Mineral Planning Authority was notified on 11 October 2017 that mineral working/tipping operations ceased circa 1995

Yes, 1995. And in 2019 we're still discussing restoration.

Planning conditions for Rockbeare are governed by ROMP 7/11/98/P0050. Given that operations ceased at Rockbeare so long ago, let’s look at what condition "A20. RESTORATION IN THE EVENT OF PRIOR CESSATION OF WORKING" says:

In the event of a prior cessation of winning and working of minerals prior to the achievement of the final agreed levels, as referred to in Conditions A17 and A18 above, which in the opinion of the Mineral Planning Authority constitutes a prior permanent cessation within the terms of Paragraph 3 of Schedule 9 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a restoration scheme, to include details of the aftercare (see Condition 19 above), shall be submitted for approval to the Mineral Planning Authority within 3 months of being so requested by the Mineral Planning Authority. The Approved Scheme shall be implemented within 12 months of approval, or within any such other period as may otherwise be agreed in writing with the Mineral Planning Authority.

So, even if restoration does get completed in 2028, that’s 33 years late. What a relief to know that quarrying is only "temporary in nature". 

Even now, in the latest Monitoring Report, with regard to condition "A2. DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO SUBMITTED PLANS", Devon County Council says:

A planning application has been received to address the above however this is yet to be determined. This is due to outstanding issues relating to; mitigation for sand martin nest holes; suitable restoration and infilling of RB2; and, conflict with haul roads and permissive paths in the restoration scheme. The operator is required to address this information on or before 31 January 2020 to avoid enforcement action by the County Council.

But then littering the 2018 Monitoring Report were also threats of enforcement action, as there were in the 2017 report too. Perhaps that’s just the way that Aggregate Industries operates.

Both AI’s recent planning applications for Devon have run into problems with the EA

Aggregate Industries has launched two planning applications for Devon in recent weeks. We have posted about them here and here. DCC/4132/2019 seeks to import some 200,000 tonnes of subsoils and clays as part of a revised restoration scheme at Marshbroadmoor at Rockbeare in East Devon. DCC/4146/2019 seeks to continue to work secondary aggregates at Lee Moor, near Shaugh Prior on the outskirts of Plymouth, until 2050.

The Marshbroadmoor application has already run into problems. Exeter Airport has objected and Natural England had something to say about the sand martin habitat that AI wants to destroy.

This week, the Environment Agency also raised concerns – about both applications.

On the revised restoration proposal at Marshbroadmoor, with regard to "obtaining an appropriate environmental permit", the EA says:

The applicant should however be aware that part of the site is currently being restored via an existing CL:AIRE declaration while the remaining part has already been restored in line with a recently surrendered environmental permit. The existence of the current CL:AIRE and the Environment Agency’s view that part of the site has already been restored could impact on our ability to agree to any new environmental permit on the area covered by this planning application. The applicant is therefore urged to seek appropriate professional advice prior to progressing their plans for this site.

CL:AIRE?

Contaminated Land: Applications in Real Environments (CL:AIRE) is a respected independent not-for-profit organisation established in 1999 to stimulate the regeneration of contaminated land in the UK by raising awareness of, and confidence in, practical and sustainable remediation technologies.

On the proposal to continue to work secondary aggregates at Lee Moor, the EA has objected:

The previous use of the development site presents a high risk of contamination that could be mobilised during operational phases and pollute controlled waters. As the planning application is not supported by an appropriate risk assessment, it does not meet the requirements set out in paragraphs 170 and 178 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

Natural England tells AI to make space for sand martins at Rockbeare

Earlier this month, we posted AI launches another retrospective planning application.

It concerned Aggregate Industries' application DCC/4132/2019, "to continue importation of inert soils and subsoil to allow for revised restoration contours at Marshbroadmoor including a revised restoration scheme at Rockbeare Quarry."

According to AI, "Biodiversity matters to us 🌍":

Biodiversity matters to us 🌍 We are well placed to make a positive contribution to UK #biodiversity through ongoing site management and wildlife focused #restoration schemes. Download our biodiversity plan to discover more about our strategy https://t.co/ozjziD3inN pic.twitter.com/q17Smh4M8X

— Aggregate Industries (@AggregateUK) May 9, 2019

And indeed, through a wildlife focused #restoration scheme, AI might have been "well placed to make a positive contribution to UK #biodiversity" at Marshbroadmoor. Instead, AI planned to remove habitat for nesting sand martins currently resident at the site:

It is not considered safe or feasible to maintain or create a face suitable for nesting Sand Martins as part of the final restoration scheme.

Natural England has now responded to the application:

We also note that Sand martins are recorded breeding on site but that post restoration the nest site will be lost. No compensation has been proposed for this loss and we would advise that consideration is given to revising the final site layout to accommodate the nest site or that consideration is given to providing alternative sites.

It won't have gone unnoticed – by AI or other developers – that changes to the NPPF announced last week will in future "require development to deliver 10% net gains for biodiversity".

AI’s latest plans for Marshbroadmoor & Rockbeare in trouble already

Oh dear. Aggregate Industries’ plans to import some 200,000 tonnes of materials that "will consist mainly of subsoils and clays" – as part of its proposal to restore Marshbroadmoor to "areas of mixed woodland" – have come unstuck already. Only last week, we posted about the company’s plans for the sites in AI launches another retrospective planning application.

You would have thought – given that the company has already had airport safeguarding issues with its planning application to quarry nearby Straitgate Farm – that AI would have learnt by now not to propose tree planting on a hill top location directly below the landing path to an international airport.

In 2014, we posted Presumptuous? after AI started planting trees at Straitgate. We said:

Aggregate Industries does not have permission to quarry Straitgate Farm; in fact, the farm is not even in Devon's Minerals Plan. This hasn't stopped AI from starting to mark out where it wants to quarry, with fencing and the planting of tree screens, according to its 'concept plans' - plans not agreed by anyone other than its consultants; not DCC, not the Environment Agency, not Natural England, not Exeter Airport…

And indeed it was presumptuous. Because in 2015, Exeter Airport said:

No trees or hedges must be planted to the west or south of the site. The land in this location already penetrates the OLS and any further penetrations would be unacceptable. Ideally any existing penetrating trees should be removed over time. Any tree and hedge planting should be restricted to the far eastern side of the site and below the 135mAOD contour ensuring trees are not allowed to grow to a height that will cause OLS penetration issues in future years.

Again in 2017 – plainly because AI still hadn’t got the message – Exeter Airport advised:

Tree management and planting should be carried out following the guidance in the attached EDAL tree planting plan to ensure no further penetrations of the Obstacle limitation surfaces.

And so, in 2018, the majority of trees AI had planted at Straitgate – in an effort to provide compensatory habitat for dormice, for all the ancient hedgerows it plans to grub up – were cut down. We posted AI cuts down ‘compensation’ planting; so where does that leave protected species? As we wrote:

It’s a shambles. If we can’t trust AI to do a simple job like managing tree planting in the right place, how can we trust it to dig in the right place, or more specifically for the protection of people’s water supplies, dig to the right depth?

Clearly AI didn’t learn. Its restoration plans for Marshbroadmoor proposes planting areas of woodland higher than 135mAOD, and again Exeter Airport has objected:

The landscaping proposals in this planning application are on ground that is directly below the take-off and climb and approach surfaces for Exeter airport. The land here already penetrates some of the airports safeguarded surfaces which are in place to protect the safe manoeuvring of aircraft in the area and ensure no adverse effects to instrument landing systems.

Any additional tree planting and landscaping works in this area have the potential to further increase the surface penetrations that Exeter Airport already suffers, over time these penetrations should be reduced, and also increase the risk of birdstrike to aircraft that are in a critical phase of flight as they pass over this location either on approach or departure…

A robust Wildlife Hazard Management Plan to include Landscape and Tree maintenance would need to be supplied and approved by Exeter Airport to ensure there is no increase in risk of birdstrike to aircraft and that there would be no further surface penetrations by trees either now or in perpetuity.

Accordingly, Exeter Airport object to the proposal on the grounds of aviation safety.

AI launches another retrospective planning application

Aggregate Industries has launched a planning application, DCC/4132/2019, "to continue importation of inert soils and subsoil to allow for revised restoration contours at Marshbroadmoor including a revised restoration scheme at Rockbeare Quarry."

Mineral extraction at Marshbroadmoor ceased in 2014. Importation of material has since continued despite "3.3 Condition B1 of Schedule B of planning permission Ref. 7/11/98/P0050 required the cessation of operations at Marshbroadmoor by 25th of April 2015."

Over the years we’ve posted about nearby Marshbroadmoor and Rockbeare – the latter being the area that had previously been earmarked, by both AI and DCC, for processing material from Straitgate Farm. We’ve posted things like: AI says it's done this sort of thing before - if so, it was breaching planning conditions, and how AI's asphalt plant at Rockbeare continues to operate without permission.

Incidentally, for anyone banking on Straitgate delivering the goods, Marshbroadmoor was one of the quarries mentioned in AI’s last two quarries in East Devon produced significantly less than expected - and there's every chance Straitgate would too:

The original planning application gave a figure of 1.1 million tonnes, but, due to geological faulting, nothing like that amount ever came out. After an 'incidental' amount was transported to Hillhead for processing, an application was made in 2010 for the bulk of the reserve, some 176,000 tonnes, to be processed at Blackhill.

This new planning application "includes an overall restoration masterplan for both Marshbroadmoor and Rockbeare Quarry which will provide for a more comprehensive, coherent scheme." The volume of material required to complete restoration is "estimated to be approximately 118,000m3", which at 15 tonnes per load equates to another 30,000 truck movements "likely to average 40 (20 in, 20 out) per day."

One aim of the restoration will be to "to ensure the stability of RB2":

3.19 The large waterbody known as RB2 is a former silt pond. It was originally intended to infill the pond under the previously approved restoration scheme. The pond is currently (and will continue to be) used to accept surface water drainage that is pumped from a sump near the Waycon Precast Concrete site. Given the need to retain the pond and potential ecological value, it is no longer intended to infill completely.

3.20 The restoration of RB2 will be reliant on the stability of the surrounding slopes and silt content. A survey of the slopes is required and the applicant is willing to accept a condition requiring one to be undertaken within a specified timeframe alongside a restoration scheme solely for RB2…

3.22 The reduction in the size of RB2 and the proposed planting will make the waterbody less attractive to birds which may present a bird strike risk given the site’s proximity to Exeter Airport.

Three other water bodies, that were originally proposed to be infilled will now also be retained – directly below the landing path to Exeter Airport – apparently in agreement with DCC.

Mineral extraction at Rockbeare dates from 1947 and at Marshbroadmoor from 1997. The retrospective application seeks to amend the restoration scheme such that the "final restoration of Marshbroadmoor will be completed by April 2022" and "the timeframe for restoration of Rockbeare… remains up to 21st of February 2042."

AI’s consultants say – without any trace of irony – that over that 95-year interval:

5.1 The effects associated with the operational development will generally be considered to be temporary in nature, mineral development and restoration representing a temporary use of the land. Long term effects arising from the finalisation of the operations and final restoration will generally be considered permanent and beneficial in nature.

On the latter issue – how restoration will benefit nature – here’s the document spelling out how AI will deal with the removal of habitat at Marshbroadmoor for nesting sand martins.

It is not considered safe or feasible to maintain or create a face suitable for nesting Sand Martins as part of the final restoration scheme.

Is this another example of Aggregate Industries making space for nature?

Consultation for the above application remains open to the public until 1/8/2019.

Photo: Sand martins at Tarmac’s Arcow Quarry, in North Yorkshire, by Michael Cardus

Remember GCNs and why AI couldn’t use Rockbeare to process Straitgate material?

For many years, Rockbeare had been earmarked, both by Devon County Council and Aggregate Industries, to process material from Straitgate Farm. As far back as 2003, in a last ditch attempt to keep Straitgate in the previous Devon Minerals Plan, AI had said:

It is this Company’s view that there is an inextricable link between Straitgate Farm and the Rockbeare Minerals Working Area... It is the Company’s intention to transfer plant to Rockbeare as soon as working is completed at Blackhill... Working the reserve at Straitgate Farm initially and possibly wholly through our existing mineral site at Rockbeare we believe is both efficient and has environmental benefits.

Straitgate Farm was put in the current Minerals Plan on the basis of the availability of a nearby site for processing the sand and gravel. At that Plan’s Examination Hearings in 2016, AI hoodwinked the Inspector, telling him it "wouldn’t wish to rule out" Rockbeare. But a month later, Waycon Precast Ltd submitted a planning application for Rockbeare – leasing the site from AI for a new precast concrete manufacturing plant. The application had obviously been in the pipeline for some time.

Therefore, when AI, in the same year, lost the argument over continued processing at Blackhill, the only remaining site available to house the relocated processing plant was at Hillhead near Uffculme. This now means that if Straitgate ever got the go-ahead, every load of as-dug material, which would include 20% waste, would require a round trip of 46 miles for processing; every finished load would have effectively travelled 58 miles before any onward delivery. Utterly ridiculous and utterly unsustainable.

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust

And GCNs? When AI was previously trying to argue why it shouldn't use Rockbeare – why it should continue processing at Blackhill, a factory with hundreds of HGV movements in the middle of an AONB and conservation area of European importance – the company suddenly went looking for, and had the good fortune of finding, some great crested newts. We posted about it in You couldn’t make this up!

It has been demonstrated that processing at Rockbeare is not physically possible due to... the presence of great crested newts in existing ponds.

It was remarkable really, because AI wouldn’t look for newts properly to support its application to quarry Straitgate – and still hasn’t – but didn’t hesitate to look for them at Rockbeare, which at the time wasn’t the subject of a planning application.

And it was a similar story at Blackhill, where GCNs couldn't be found when the site's planning application was being discussed, but could suddenly be found when that wasn’t on the table anymore, but biodiversity prizes were.

Of course, the presence of newts at Rockbeare did not have to block the site being used for mineral processing. Natural England told AI that the issue could be "addressed through European Protected Species licencing", in the same way the dormice – another protected species – would be at Straitgate, in the same way that Midland Quarry Products has just been granted a licence to translocate great crested newts at its quarry in Shropshire.

But once GCNs had been found at Rockbeare, and when you see that AI was recently forced to spend £425,000 to relocate reptiles from its Isle of Grain terminal site in Kent, you know what Rockbeare was all about. It was about money; the economic benefits that would fall to AI – leasing the site to a third party and avoiding the costs of moving GCNs. It was about what was right for AI, not what was right for Devon. It was about the profit that would accrue to LafargeHolcim’s bank balance in Switzerland, so that Devon could benefit from the diesel pollution of HGVs labouring back and forth on a 2.5 million mile haulage scheme, and the world’s broken climate could benefit from thousands of tonnes of CO2. Thank you Aggregate Industries. It’s good to know how much you care.

When an East Devon minerals site loses the benefit of restoration

Earlier this month we posted that Aggregate Industries’ planning application to retain its asphalt plant at Rockbeare – the plant operating without permission since 2014 – had finally been approved.

This area has now lost the benefit of being restored back to woodland, as had previously been agreed, and AI will pay £10k to DCC, to "provide for compensatory work in a location yet to be determined" on "appropriate biodiversity project(s)... sought by the County Ecologist"; it’s an example of biodiversity offsetting, or as some would argue "a licence to trash nature".

DCC now has funding for woodland planting, "ideally in the Newton Abbot / Bovey area."

Funding for woodland planting! Devon County Council has funding for 5ha of planting (can be divided into smaller areas) to benefit dormice - ideally in the Newton Abbot / Bovey area but not essential. To find out more contact nature@devon.gov.uk pic.twitter.com/UpvoM71PDK

— Natural Devon (@Devon_LNP) August 13, 2018

Rockbeare application finally approved

Aggregate Industries has been operating its asphalt plant at Rockbeare without planning permission since 2014. We’ve posted on this issue before. AI submitted a planning application in 2016 to continue operations, despite the fact that production of the aggregate feedstock is no longer carried out at Rockbeare or anywhere nearby.

Permission has now finally been granted, following:

the signing of a s106 agreement to financially offset the loss of replacement woodland originally proposed within the ROMP consent, reference 7/11/98/P0050, will provide for compensatory work in a location yet to be determined.

It is proposed that the sum of £10410 will be payable to Devon County Council, via a s106 legal agreement, and an appropriate biodiversity project(s) will be sought by the County Ecologist and the funds allocated accordingly.

On the question of the suitability and sustainability of this location, given that any processing of minerals was last carried out at Rockbeare in 1994, DCC's view is that:

Objective 1 seeks to minimise transportation distances for mineral development, as does Policy M22. While aggregates are no longer quarried at Rockbeare Hill, and the asphalt plant is therefore supplied with aggregates quarried elsewhere, transportation of aggregates from quarry to asphalt plant is only one part of the equation, as transportation of the asphalt to its point of use should also be considered. Rockbeare Hill is very well located in relation to the A30 and development areas in and to the east of Exeter, and is also located adjacent to the depot for South West Highways. The plant requires a mix of different aggregates for its products, so location of the plant at any one quarry would still require transportation of aggregates from other quarries.

Removal of the Rockbeare Hill plant would therefore leave a gap in this network and mean increased transportation distances from other asphalt plants to the Exeter/East Devon markets.

Rockbeare update

Aggregate Industries has been operating its asphalt plant at Rockbeare without planning permission since 2014, and arguably for some considerable time before that too; we’ve posted on the issue before.

AI submitted a planning application in 2016 to continue operations, despite the fact that production of aggregate feedstock is no longer carried out at Rockbeare or anywhere nearby.

Last year DCC had hoped to "be in a position to determine the application before Christmas, but if not then early in the new year."

As of this week the application has still not been determined.

DCC is waiting for AI to agree a S106 agreement for biodiversity offsetting, since, if approved, this part of Rockbeare would obviously not be "restored... in the interests of visual amenity" as originally intended.

As we said last year, any biodiversity gain for an unspecified location elsewhere in Devon will be Rockbeare’s loss.

Rockbeare update

Back in July we posted that:

Aggregate Industries has been operating its asphalt plant at Rockbeare without planning permission since 2014, and arguably for very much longer.

AI submitted a planning application DCC/3867/2016 in May 2016 to retain this plant, despite the fact that production of the aggregate feedstock is no longer carried out at Rockbeare, or anywhere nearby for that matter, and would instead need to be hauled in from at least 23 miles away.

Should we be surprised? This is the company whose plan for Straitgate entails a 2.5 million mile haulage scheme, but whose new website crows:

We’re committed to removing as much transport from roads as possible

Of course, in the interests of sustainability and as the NPPF tells us, development should be "in locations and ways which reduce greenhouse gas emissions".

DCC now says it "should be in a position to determine the application before Christmas, but if not then early in the new year."

The asphalt plant site was meant to be "restored... in the interests of visual amenity". If the application is approved this would obviously not happen.

What would the cost to AI be of not restoring the site back to nature as originally intended? A meagre £10,410. At least, that’s what AI’s consultants have proposed. The money would be payable to DCC to be spent on biodiversity projects elsewhere:

The current criteria which we use are that if the funding relates to priority habitats / species then it should ideally be spent on creating / enhancing the same priority habitat / species as close as possible to the loss. If no projects come forward within a reasonable timeframe then the funding should be spent on creating / enhancing other priority habitats and species in Devon.

It’s an example of 'biodiversity offsetting', or as some have called it "a licence to trash nature". Any gain for an unspecified location in Devon would be Rockbeare’s loss.

AI's been using asphalt plant without permission since 2014... and still drags its feet

We first posted in June 2016 how Aggregate Industries has been operating its asphalt plant at Rockbeare without planning permission since 2014, and arguably for very much longer. Earlier this year we posted about how it continues to do so.

The original planning permission for this plant was time-limited:

upon completion of the mineral working at the mineral site, the plant hereby approved shall be removed and the area restored ...in the interests of visual amenity.

Last May, AI submitted a planning application to retain the plant. In February of this year, DCC advised:

the deadline date for the determination of this application has been extended to the 7th March 2017 in order to allow further discussions and consideration of biodiversity off setting which may be required as a result of the land occupied by the asphalt plant not being restored for the benefit of nature conservation, as originally envisaged

AI is still dragging its feet on this, and DCC has now arranged another extension:

a further extension to September 29th 2017 [has been agreed] as the planning agent is still awaiting an ecologist report from AI

But why should the area not be "restored... in the interests of visual amenity"? 

Production of the sand and gravel feedstock for this asphalt plant is no longer carried out at Rockbeare. In fact, for the foreseeable future, aggregate feedstock for this plant will be produced at least 23 miles away up the M5.

AI's asphalt plant at Rockbeare continues to operate without permission

Whilst a 'Towering inferno at an Aggregate Industries Express Asphalt plant in Greater Manchester proved 'awkward' for firefighters' and 'could have been extremely dangerous', the company's asphalt plant at Rockbeare in Devon continues to operate without permission.

Last May, AI submitted a planning application, DCC/3867/2016, to retain the plant. AI has been operating the asphalt plant at Rockbeare without planning permission since 2014.  According to its own supporting statement:

3.1 The existing asphalt plant was permitted, in its current location, under planning permission 99/P0568 (see Appendix 1). Under condition 8 of this permission, the asphalt plant was time limited by way of requiring removal of the plant upon cessation of mineral extraction. Condition 8 states:

“Unless otherwise agreed in writing with the Mineral Planning Authority, upon completion of the mineral working at the mineral site, the plant hereby approved shall be removed and the area restored in accordance with details to be submitted pursuant to Review of Old Mineral Permission No.7/11/98/P0050.

Reason: To ensure satisfactory restoration in the interests of visual amenity.”

3.3 Mineral extraction ceased at Rockbeare Quarry (Marshbroadmoor) in 2014. The purpose of this planning application is to seek the permanent retention of the asphalt plant, aggregate store and associated facilities.

We made an objection to the application:

Extraction at next door Marshbroadmoor may have ceased in 2014... but since none of this mineral was ever processed at Rockbeare that date seems immaterial. What does seem material is, as AI pointed out in its planning application for Straitgate Farm, that "mineral processing was last carried out at Rockbeare in 1994" [5.36] when "most of the production was used on a daily basis by the on-site asphalt plant and the Charcon Concrete Products Factory (now closed)".

We made the point that if mineral processing - and production of a sand and gravel feedstock for the asphalt plant - is no longer carried out at Rockbeare:

Why should Rockbeare continue to be a suitable and sustainable location for asphalt processing? Why should the community permanently forgo the "satisfactory restoration in the interests of visual amenity"?

The consultation to this application closed in July 2016. DCC has since advised:

The deadline date for the determination of this application has been extended to the 7th March 2017 in order to allow further discussions and consideration of biodiversity off setting which may be required as a result of the land occupied by the asphalt plant not being restored for the benefit of nature conservation, as originally envisaged in the Rockbeare Quarry permission.

As yet, DCC and AI "have not discussed any specific sort of offsetting and where it would be".

It looks like Rockbeare's out of the picture for good, as far as Straitgate is concerned

Further to "Has AI finally given up on Rockbeare?" and "AI's plans are still up in the air", it looks like the chance of Rockbeare ever being used to process material from Straitgate was well and truly ended this week, when planning application 16/1464/MFUL from Waycon Precast Ltd was approved by EDDC.

Waycon plans to lease the old concrete products site at Rockbeare from AI, replace the buildings and expand production, "to provide an updated state of the art concrete precasting works".

Readers will remember that it was only in May, at the Examination hearing, that an AI spokesman was telling the Inspector that it "wouldn’t wish to rule out the site" for processing material from Straitgate and would "look again" at Rockbeare if permission for Blackhill was not extended beyond 2016.

But as we wrote a couple of weeks ago, and just to show how much the company cares for the environment, AI is now ludicrously talking about processing Straitgate material at Uffculme - some 23 miles away - which would work out as an astonishing 2.5 million HGV miles and 4000 tonnes of CO2 in total. You wonder if there's any Minerals Planning in Devon, but good luck to AI with convincing the councillors and residents of Mid Devon of the merits of that scheme.

Why Straitgate’s sand and gravel is so much better than the millions of tonnes already permitted at Uffculme, also from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds, only AI can say. For each Straitgate load to warrant a profit-sapping 46 mile round-trip, before any of the site development costs, it must be very special stuff. Is there gold in them thar fields??

Has AI finally given up on Rockbeare?

Those who have been following the East Devon minerals debacle for some time might remember that as recently as 2014 Aggregate Industries was saying that the derelict concrete products plant at Rockbeare was being set aside as an alternative location to process any material from Straitgate.

Since that time, and although sand and gravel was once processed at Rockbeare, AI has claimed that the site is no longer suitable for processing on a number of fronts - lack of space for stockpiles and silt storage, lack of process water, even great crested newts.

However, at the Examination in Public in May, when pushed on the issue by the Inspector, AI said it "wouldn’t wish to rule out the site" and would "look again" at Rockbeare if permission for Blackhill on Woodbury Common was not extended beyond 2016.

And yet, only a month later, a planning application - which had obviously been in preparation for some time - landed on the desk of East Devon District Council from Waycon Precast Ltd, who wish to relocate from Plymouth and lease the site from AI: "16/1464/MFUL Replacement of existing manufacturing building with new factory building for precast concrete manufacturing".

How this would help AI "look again" at the site is unclear. How this would help AI "to find an alternative solution for when [Blackhill's] permission expires" is also unclear.

Or has AI finally given up on Rockbeare?

AI operating asphalt plant at Rockbeare without planning permission

Aggregate Industries has submitted a planning application for the "retention of the existing asphalt plant, aggregate store and ancillary stockyard/storage bays and the importation and storage of Recycled Asphalt Planings (RAP) at Rockbeare Quarry".

AI’s supporting statement reads:

3.1 The existing asphalt plant was permitted, in its current location, under planning permission 99/P0568 (see Appendix 1). Under condition 8 of this permission, the asphalt plant was time limited by way of requiring removal of the plant upon cessation of mineral extraction. Condition 8 states:

“Unless otherwise agreed in writing with the Mineral Planning Authority, upon completion of the mineral working at the mineral site, the plant hereby approved shall be removed and the area restored in accordance with details to be submitted pursuant to Review of Old Mineral Permission No.7/11/98/P0050.

Reason: To ensure satisfactory restoration in the interests of visual amenity.”

3.3 Mineral extraction ceased at Rockbeare Quarry (Marshbroadmoor) in 2014. The purpose of this planning application is to seek the permanent retention of the asphalt plant, aggregate store and associated facilities.

Indeed, extraction at next door Marshbroadmoor may have ceased in 2014, since which time AI has been operating without permission - in breach of planning conditions, but since none of this mineral was ever processed at Rockbeare that date seems immaterial. What does seem material is, as AI pointed out in its planning application for Straitgate, that "mineral processing was last carried out at Rockbeare in 1994" 5.36, 22 years ago, when "most of the production was used on a daily basis by the on-site asphalt plant and the Charcon Concrete Products Factory (now closed)".

When AI now argues that:

It has been demonstrated that processing at Rockbeare is not physically possible due to a lack of silt space and clean water storage, insufficient stocking and processing area and the presence of great crested newts in existing ponds. 8.37

why should Rockbeare continue to be a suitable and sustainable location for asphalt processing? Why should the community permanently forgo the "satisfactory restoration in the interests of visual amenity"? 

Is this just the sort of thing that would happen at Straitgate? Moving restoration goalposts? Breaches of planning conditions? As usual, AI wants to have its cake, and eat it too. This planning application DCC/3867/2016 was validated on 24 May, but is open for comments until 7 July.

Great crested newts... and rising water tables

Aggregate Industries is desperate to use Blackhill beyond 2016 to process material from Straitgate, and has put up a range of arguments as to why it couldn’t use its derelict site at nearby Rockbeare instead; one of these arguments is the presence of great crested newts:

It has been demonstrated that processing at Rockbeare is not physically possible due to a lack of silt space and clean water storage, insufficient stocking and processing area and the presence of great crested newts in existing ponds. 8.37

Natural England has demolished these arguments and doesn't see GCNs as a constraint. But guess what? Tarmac doesn’t see GCNs as a barrier to working either. It’s been working with them for years at a quarry in Cheshire, where "a number of ponds, pools and ditches have been created at Crown Farm Quarry as a result of historic quarrying activities". There’s even a paper on the subject:

The discovery of a widespread population of great crested newts at Crown Farm Quarry could have been a major constraint to the operators at this mineral extraction site. However, with early involvement of ecologists, appropriate management, innovative mitigation measures, and a positive approach by Tarmac, this potential constraint has become a success story.

But why all these "ponds, pools and ditches"?

An unexpected rise in the water-table has also contributed to the formation of these waterbodies.

An unexpected rise? It's hardly surprising. At Straitgate, hydrogeological consultants are trying to predict the maximum winter water table across some 63 acres with just six data points from around the perimeter. It's obviously not possible with any precision, however much their maps and contours would like to give the impression that it is. It’s one of the reasons why 1m is typically left unquarried above the maximum winter water table where private water supplies are at stake.

AI now says it has no intention of leaving this 1m unquarried at Straitgate. Perhaps it should ask itself, what would happen if there was an "unexpected rise in the water-table" here - and the void had been backfilled with just 1m of soil? What would happen to the integrity of private water supplies to 106 people, for example from animal faeces, nitrates or other pollutants? What would happen to restoration to any future farming use? What would happen to airport safeguarding?

What happened to dry-working at Thorn Trees and Venn Ottery? Unexpected rises in the water-table?

Natural England issues an ‘Objection/Further information req'd’ for Straitgate too

Aggregate Industries’ problems go from bad to worse. Further to Natural England's response in July, the agency has now responded to the company's Regulation 22 response with an "Objection/Further information required" for Straitgate Farm. 

Since AI's Regulation 22 response identified Blackhill as the only viable processing option, NE has advised DCC to assess whether the Straitgate Farm proposal will have a significant effect on a European designated site, raising again the issue of importing nitrate-rich soils from a dairy farm into the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths SAC and East Devon Heaths SPA. It has responded on a number of other issues too - the lack of a "thorough examination of potential alternative sites", the lack of a proper great crested newt survey and the lack of replacement habitat for dormice.

AI had made the claim that:

It has been demonstrated that processing at Rockbeare is not physically possible due to a lack of silt space and clean water storage, insufficient stocking and processing area and the presence of great crested newts in existing ponds. 8.37

Given… the absence of another suitable site for processing the mineral... it is considered that exceptional circumstances exist that should enable the LPA to permit the 5 year extension of the existing operation at Blackhill Quarry. 8.58

Natural England demolishes this argument:

The presence of Great Crested Newts at Rockbeare Quarry is cited as a constraint to the consideration of using Rockbeare Quarry as an alternative location for the processing of quarry materials from Straitgate Farm. Natural England advises that the potential exists for this to be addressed through European Protected Species licencing and that this avenue could be explored through consultation with our licensing team.

The applicant also does not appear to have explored the feasibility and costs of undertaking modifications to increase the capacity of water storage and silt settling lagoons at Rockbeare quarry. It is also noted in para 6.39 that concrete settling tanks were previously used at Hillhead quarry, however, there is no discussion as to whether a similar proposal at Rockbeare would be an option to increase capacity. Similarly there is no discussion around options to increase the depth of Beggars Roost or raise the height of the bund around Beggars Roost to increase its capacity.

The justification for using Blackhill Quarry to continue to process quarry materials appears to be based on the economic benefits to the Applicant of not moving heavy processing equipment that has been installed at Blackhill, rather than a thorough examination of potential alternative sites.

And on the issue of protected species in and around Straitgate:

We have not assessed this application and associated documents in detail for impacts on protected species, however, despite further information being provided through the Reg 22 response, there is still doubt over whether the Great Crested Newt survey has been completed in line with our standing advice.

We are also aware that changes identified in the Reg 22 response in relation to the tree and hedgerow planting proposed as mitigation for both landscaping purposes and replacement habitat for the dormouse population may affect the quality and quantity of planting that will be in place. Your Authority will need to be satisfied that the mitigation plan proposed by the Applicant is deliverable in the quantity and to the quality required and within the appropriate timescales to provide the necessary replacement habitat.