Timothy Bent v Cambridgeshire County Council Wicken Lime and Stone Company Ltd T/A Frances Flower (Eastern) (Interested Party)

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
JudgeDavid Elvin
Judgment Date09 June 2017
Neutral Citation[2017] EWHC 1366 (Admin)
Docket NumberCase No: CO/4302/2016
CourtQueen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
Date09 June 2017

[2017] EWHC 1366 (Admin)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

PLANNING COURT

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Before:

David Elvin QC

(Sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge)

Case No: CO/4302/2016

Between:
Timothy Bent
Claimant
and
Cambridgeshire County Council
Defendant

and

Wicken Lime and Stone Company Limited T/A Frances Flower (Eastern)
Interested Party

Alasdair Henderson (instructed by Richard Buxton Env. & Public Law) for the Claimant

James Burton (instructed by LGSS Law Ltd) for the Defendant

Richard Moules (instructed by TLT LLP) for the Interested Party

Hearing date: 28 March 2017

Approved Judgment

David Elvin QC:

Introduction

1

The Claimant (" C") seeks judicial review of the decision of the Defendant Cambridgeshire County Council (" D") to grant planning permission under ref E/3008/14/CM (" the Permission") to the Interested Party (" IP") for an extension to a quarry at Dimmock's Cote Quarry, Stretham Road, Wicken, Ely, CB7 5XL (" the Site"). Permission to bring this challenge was given by Collins J. on 17 January 2017.

2

Quarrying has taken place at the Site with the benefit of planning permission since the 1960s and the current Policy M8B of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Minerals and Waste Site Specific Proposals document (February 2012) allocates a further 13 ha of land for the extraction of limestone from the quarry. The IP sought planning permission for the winning and working of limestone from a 9.1 ha strip of that allocated area of land, which lies to the north of the existing quarry and for the deposit of inert waste following extraction. All of the mineral proposed to be extracted is to be processed by an existing mineral processing plant and the activities in the extension would continue to use the existing Site access.

3

C and his family live at Kingfisher Bridge House, 40 Stretham Road, Wicken, Cambs, which is situated close to the Site's northern boundary. He was an objector to the IP's planning application and attended and spoke against it at the D's Planning Committee meeting held on 16 June 2016. C is concerned with regard to the additional noise which he considers will be generated as the result of the implementation of the Permission. It is not disputed that he has standing to bring this challenge.

The decision

4

The D's members reached the decision to grant planning permission at a meeting on the planning committee on 16 June 2016 in the light of a report from its planning officer (" OR").

5

Councillor Connor (the chairman of the planning committee) explains in his evidence that members undertook a site visit on 15 June 2016, the day before their meeting, and visited C's property where C was permitted to draw members' attention to his concerns and to point out the proposed quarry boundary in relation to his land.

6

The material parts of the OR stated as follows:

"1.4 The quarry is situated on a modest Upware Limestone outcrop that rises from the fens towards the north and east. It is situated within an otherwise flat open agricultural and wetland, fenland landscape to the east of the River Cam. The River Cam is situated within 440 metres of the west of the application site. To the west of the site is Dimmocks Cote Farm.

1.5 To the north of the application site there is a strip of grassland on which a windsock is situated, beyond that is tree planting. There are five residential properties, the nearest of which is approximately 142 metres from the application site, with the extent of its residential curtilage being approximately 60 metres from the edge of the application area. Adjacent to the eastern boundary of the site is Red Barn Farm. The single track High Fen Road provides access to Red Barn Farm, properties to the north of the application site and the Kingfisher Bridge CWS Nature Reserve.

1.7 The limestone is currently extracted from the quarry by tracked excavator. The material is screened within the quarry and transported to the processing and drying plant by dump truck via a dedicated haul road. The existing quarry is dewatered to enable dry working to maximise mineral extraction (this method of working is proposed to continue). The mineral leaves the site mainly in the form of powder, within 40 tonne articulated bulk road tankers at a an average rate of 10 loads generating 20 vehicle movements daily, for use mainly as a filler for the manufacture of asphalt with on average one 32 tonne tipper lorry (2 daily movements) of agricultural lime (the method of transporting the mineral is proposed to remain the same).

1.9 One listed building is situated within one kilometre of the proposed extension area, which is High Fen Farmhouse (a grade II listed farmhouse). It is situated approximately 250 metres north of the proposed extension area and is separated from the site by an agricultural field and a tree belt.

2. PROPOSAL

• Extension to extract 1.2 million tonnes of limestone from 9.1 hectares of agricultural land working a proposed maximum of 65,000 tonnes per annum of which [ sic] would be an estimated annual production of 60,000 tonnes of asphalt filler and 5,000 tonnes of agricultural lime;

• Mineral extraction over 18.5 year period;

• Proposed mineral extraction to be extracted in 13 phases working generally from east to west;

• Total of 35,000 tonnes per annum of inert waste proposed to be imported, of which approximately (a little more than) 30,000 tonnes per annum to be used onsite for restoration purposes;

• Proposed anticipated ancillary recycling recovery of approximately (a little less than) 5,000 tonnes per annum of saleable materials;

• Waste proposed to be sourced from development sites within an approximate 25 mile radius;

• Open sided storage building;

• Proposed restoration of total application site to

• 8 hectares to be restored to a state fit for agricultural use to be managed as low input grassland;

• 16.6 hectares proposed for nature conservation uses and including landscaping;

• 1.3 hectares retained buildings and plant site; and

• Total application site size 25.9 hectares.

2.1 Planning permission is sought for the winning and working of limestone from the 9.1 hectares strip of agricultural land to the north of the existing quarry, which is proposed to be worked as a northerly extension to the existing quarry. The application site is stated to contain approximately 1.2 million tonnes of limestone. It is proposed to work this deposit over a period of 18.5 years working at approximately 65,000 tonnes per annum (as is currently worked from the existing quarry). It is proposed to work the extension in 13 phases predominantly from east to west.

2.2 All mineral would be processed by the existing mineral processing plant, which is within the planning application site area. It would be transferred to the processing and storage building and areas (within the quarry) by truck. Following processing, it would leave by road via the existing access onto the A1123. The bulk of the material (approximately 60,000 tonnes per annum) would leave the site (as it does currently) in a powder form in road tankers for use as asphalt filler with approximately 5,000 tonnes per annum proposed to leave in 32 tonne tipper lorries for use as agricultural lime.

2.3 It is also proposed to import 0.32 million m3 of inert material equating to approximately 30,000 tonnes per annum for restoration purposes. To ensure adequate inert materials a total of 35,000 tonnes per annum is proposed to be imported of mixed loads of inert waste containing soils. The applicant asked to be allowed to import a maximum of up to 40,000 tonnes or inert waste per annum to allow for flexibility between years should a shortfall occur and need to be made up during the following year. This has been taken into account within the schedule of recommended conditions towards the end of this report (see Condition 10). A proposed inert recycling plant would be sited within the existing quarry void for ancillary recycling purposes to recover recyclable materials from the imported waste. It is estimated that the recycling plant would recover approximately 5,000 tonnes per annum of saleable materials. The proposed waste recycling plant consists of a crusher and a screener, which would be located within a bunded area towards the eastern area of the existing quarry for phases 1 to 11 and then moved to a similarly bunded area within the proposed extension area to facilitate continuing restoration for the working of phases 12 and 13. The Environment Agency has confirmed that the proposed waste operation would also need to be controlled by permit. The material is proposed to be sourced from development projects within approximately a 25 mile radius, which would include Ely, Cambridge and Newmarket.

2.4 The development would continue to use the existing site access, which accesses the A1123 close to the southern end of Fodder Fen Drove. It is stated that the traffic flows would be expected to follow the existing pattern of heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) movements to the quarry which is 70% to and from the west (travelling through Stretham when travelling towards the A10 and other destinations) and 30% to the east (travelling through Wicken when travelling towards the A142 and other destinations). It is stated that the proposal would result in approximately an additional 10 HCV movements passing through Wicken per day, representing 1 additional movement per hour when spread over a working day. Travelling towards Stretham approximately an additional 20 HCV movements are envisaged. When spread over a working day this would be expected to represent two additional movements per hour.

2.5 The total HCV movements per day that would be expected to result from the application site would be an average of 35. Of these 16 movements would be expected to result from an average of 8 loads of...

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