Issue - meetings

[Electoral Divisions: Corby and Hayton]

To consider a report from the Executive Director – Economy & Infrastructure (copy enclosed)

Mr A McGuckin had declared a non-pecuniary interest in this agenda item and left the meeting at this point.

Members had before them a report from the Executive Director – Economy and Infrastructure concerning an application for planning permission for the extension of time for the extraction of sand and gravel until 31 December 2032, subsequent restoration by infilling and ancillary aggregate recycling at Faugh Sand Pit No. 2 (Esk Quarry), Faugh, Brampton.

This combined planning application had been submitted after discussions with the County Council on how best to regularise the operations and allow the remaining reserve at the site to be worked.  To date, there was estimated to be some 240,000 tonnes of reserve at the site which had not been extracted under the existing planning permissions.

Members of the committee had visited the quarry on 10 January 2023 in an organised committee site visit.  As part of the visit, members were driven along the route HGVs took to reach the site and the route vehicles took when leaving the site to return to the A69.

The Planning Officer drew members’ attention to the Update Sheet and a further objection received from Mr B Cox, an update from Network Rail, Wetheral Parish Council and further comments received from a member of the public. 

The Planning Officer took members through the report in detail, highlighting the following:-

·           Site description, including a presentation of the haul route to and from the quarry and site history

·           Planning assessment

The officer informed members that the proposal to continue extraction of sand for a further ten years and continuation of aggregate recycling unsurprisingly had generated a lot of local concern and opposition.  The expectation from residents close to the site was that activity would end at the site in 2022 and restoration would begin.  Such concerns were certainly material considerations in the consideration of this application and important to those who had voiced their concerns.

It was reported the quarry site was not in an ideal location, being located close to residential properties. However, both national and local planning policy attributed great weight to the extraction of minerals, and, of course, they could only be worked where they occurred.  This, coupled with the strong evidence that there was an inadequate supply of sand and gravel for the local plan period, weighed in favour of the proposal to extract sand at the site for a further period of ten years.

There was undoubtedly going to be negative environmental impacts as a result of any continued operations in terms of noise, dust and vehicle movements and there would be some impacts on local residents, particularly given how close the quarry was to those residents.  But, it was also clear from the consultants reports supporting the planning application and responses from consultees, that such impacts could be controlled and minimised to an acceptable degree, with the use of appropriate planning conditions as safeguards.

This had been the case during the long operational life of the site  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108