1. Could you give me details of the process by which residents of Uffculme were informed and engaged concerning the proposed Penslade quarry and its impact on the area.
The allocation of the land referred to as ‘West of Penslade Cross’ through Policy M12 of the Devon Minerals Plan was undertaken following a process of consultation and community engagement comprising the following steps:
- consultation on an Options Consultation Paper in February 2011, which included an option for working of sand and gravel in the Uffculme area (although this did not specifically identify the Penslade site);
- a public exhibition in Uffculme on 15th March 2011 during the consultation period for the Options Consultation Paper;
- publication in October 2011 of a sustainability appraisal of the impacts of the options presented within the Options Consultation Paper;
- a consultation in March 2012 ‘Have your say on Future Quarrying in East and Mid Devon’ which included the Preferred Area at Penslade Cross, supported by Site Appraisal Reports – this included postcards to every address within 250m of the sites appraised as well as notification to all local residents who had previously participated in the Minerals Plan;
- a drop-in event in Uffculme on 5th April 2012, followed by a presentation to Uffculme Parish Council at their meeting following the event;
- a special meeting of the County Council’s Development Management Committee on 26th April 2012 to allow representatives of the communities around the Preferred Areas at Uffculme and Ottery St Mary to express their concerns directly to councillors;
- publication in July 2012 of a newsletter outlining the response to this consultation and explaining the next steps;
- publication of a sustainability appraisal of the site identification for sand and gravel quarrying in September 2012;
- provision of an update to parish councils in early 2015 on the proposal for West of Penslade Cross;
- consultation on the Pre-submission version of the Minerals Plan in August 2015, supported by a sustainability appraisal of the impacts of the Plan’s policies, with consultation postcards sent to all properties within 500m of a proposed site including Penslade; and throughout the development of the Plan’s site allocations, updates were provided at meetings of the local liaison group for Hillhead Quarry.
2. Please could you advise me of the legal requirements regarding the distance from roads, bridle paths, woods, hedges, buildings, houses and other peoples land that the Penslade quarry will be required to abide by in the event of being granted planning permission.
There are no legal requirements or legal restrictions relating to the distance between a quarry and roads, bridlepaths, woods, hedges, buildings, houses and other peoples’ land.
3. Please could you provide the plans for Penslade Quarry.
Any plans provided by Aggregate Industries to the County Council were DRAFT proposals that may change in advance of a planning application being submitted and should therefore not be considered to represent that company’s firm proposals.
The Site Plan and Phasing Plans provided are in DRAFT form and are likely to evolve prior to a planning application.
Some information has been redacted in grey because the information is exempt from disclosure under Regulation 13(1) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (Personal Data).
Devon County Council cannot disclose personal information, if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the UK General Data Protection Regulation. In this instance release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore the information is withheld.