Application No: 14/0104/Cwmajw
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APPLICATION NO: 14/0104/CWMAJW DISTRICT REF: 15/00173/CPO (14/05578/CPO for Screening Opinion) VALIDATION DATE: 24th November 2014 AGENT: Land and Mineral Management Ltd., Suite 1, Security House, 82c Chesterton Lane, Cirencester GL7 1YD APPLICANT: Smiths (Quarry Products) Limited SITE: Cotswold Hill Quarry, Ford, Temple Guiting, GL54 5RU PROPOSAL: Revised restoration proposals PARISH OF: Temple Guiting SITE AREA: 5.3 ha GRID REF: E: 408014 N: 229401 RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that planning permission be GRANTED in respect of revised restoration of the quarry for the reasons set out in this report and summarised in paragraphs 7.52-7.55, subject to the completion of a Planning Obligation that permits access to the site by educational and research groups as arranged by Gloucestershire Geology Trust up to four times a year, outside the peregrine falcon nesting season and subject to conditions in section 8.0. 1.0 SITE DESCRIPTION 1.1 The application site is a long established limestone quarry located in open countryside, approximately 5.5 kilometres east of Winchcombe and 0.60 kilometres west of the hamlet of Ford and 3 kilometres northwest of the village of Temple Guiting. The quarry is located to the south of a C class (C105) local road which joins the B4077 to the east of the application site. The B4077 runs northeast-southwest across the Cotswolds between Stowe on the Wold and Winchcombe. There is a small active quarry that operates at a very low level, under separate ownership known as Three Gates Quarry located to the north of the application site and southeast of Cotswold Hill Quarry access. 1.2 The application site measures 5.3 ha and is located on the eastern side of a dry valley, in a north-south orientation. The Cotswold stone quarried on the site has been worked into the hillside with the top edge of the quarry on the eastern side at a height of 260 metres Above Ordnance Datum (AOD) dropping down to 235 metres AOD on its western side. The workings in the centre of the site are down to 227 metres AOD at their lowest point. The quarry operation has resulted in the creation of a tall sheer rock face that runs parallel to the site’s eastern and southern boundary. 1.3 The site produces building stone and aggregate for specialist masonry application from the Birdlip Limestone formation. The exposed strata has seen the quarry designated as a Regionally Important Geological/Geomorphological Site (RIGS). The site is surrounded by agricultural land. The nearest residential properties are found to the east in Ford, on the opposite side of the hill, approximately 350 metres from the quarry boundary. Slade Barn Farm lies 400 metres to the west. The ‘Gloucestershire Way’ long distance public footpath route runs immediately adjacent to the southern site boundary referenced as Public Right of Way (HTG/10/1) where the sheer rock face abuts the footpath. The site is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). A scheduled ancient monument lies approximately 60 metres to the east of the site. The quarry is worked dry as the water table lies well below the quarry floor and there are no surface water features. 1.4 The quarry site is accessed from a narrow C classified road on the northern boundary of the site. This road leads off the B4077 to the east. As an existing quarry which has been producing building stone and aggregate for 30 years, there are a number of sheds in northern end of the site where stone cutting and masonry activities take place as well as welfare facilities for the ten employees on the site. A wheel wash and weighbridge are also located in this northern part of the site, although it is noted that the wheel wash is not operational. The centre of the quarry has been worked to its final permitted depth and there are mounds of mineral waste across the site. 1.5 A large bund comprised of topsoil from the site and overburden runs along the site’s western boundary screening views into the quarry processing area, although the high quarry faces are still visible from middle distance viewpoints from the south-west and north-west. The soil stored in this bund will be used in the final site restoration. A stockpile of inert waste material which was brought onto the site in 2007, to be used for restoration, is located in the north of the site, behind the stone cutting shed. No restoration has been carried out on the site to date. 2.0 THE PROPOSAL 2.1 The Applicant wishes to provide an alternative restoration scheme to the currently approved restoration scheme in planning permission 08/0061/CWMAJM for Cotswold Hill Quarry. This full planning proposal involves the importation of inert waste material in the form of soils and clay to amend the restoration landform which will reduce the amount of exposed sheer quarry faces compared with the current permitted scheme. The Applicant describes the purpose of revising the agreed restoration as being “essential, driven by the requirements of the Quarries Regulations 1999 requiring safe quarry faces upon restoration. The current scheme will leave extensive height of quarry faces upon restoration which are classed as a significant hazard by the Quarries Regulations. The proposed restoration scheme promotes a revised improved restoration proposal which will provide a safer, restored landform.” 2.2 The restoration operations will be progressive, following quarrying as it continues across the site from south to north. Whilst the quarry has permission to extract mineral until 2042, at current rates of extraction the estimated remaining life of the quarry for stone extraction is approximately 20 years. The restoration will take a similar period to complete with an average annual importation of 10,000 cubic metres (m3) of material with a total requirement of 200,000 m3. (Assuming a conversion factor of 1.5 tonnes per 1 cubic metre would equate to 300,000 tonnes). The movement of this amount of material would give rise to an average of 20 trips per week or 8 heavy goods vehicle (HGV) movements per day using the existing quarry access and routing to and from the B4077. The Applicant advises in paragraph 5.15 of the supporting statement that the figure will be “subject to some fluctuation reflecting the progress of the scheme and availability of suitable materials”. As the Applicant’s business operations include the largest private waste management business in the County, it is not anticipated that there would be any difficulties in sourcing material for the restoration. 2.3 The application was submitted following pre-application discussions with officers. The Applicant submitted an application under Section 73 to vary seven conditions on 08/0061/CWMAJM which has been given planning reference 14/0103/CWMAJM and is concerned with amendments to mineral extraction and processing. This full planning application was required to make this change which cannot be affected through an application to simply vary a planning condition of an existing planning permission under Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The proposal is considered materially different to the original planning permission for mineral extraction as it involves an increase in the amount of imported restoration materials. However there is to be no change to the duration of the planning permission until 2042, method of quarrying, hours of work or involve any additional areas of land not previously permitted or at a deeper level. 2.4 The existing restoration scheme was approved under planning permission 08/0061/CWMAJM. The Applicant describes the proposed restored landform as being similar to the approved scheme, with slopes grading down to the quarry floor. The main difference between the approved and proposed restoration scheme is the higher reinstated slopes along the southern boundary where the ‘Gloucestershire Way’ public footpath runs adjacent to the quarry face. The maximum height of the graded slopes of the permitted scheme is 245 metres AOD and the proposed scheme would increase this to between 250 and 260 metres. The proposed scheme does not fully eliminate high quarry faces, although the area of exposed face to be retained would be away from the route of the ‘Gloucestershire Way’. Quarry face would be retained to provide nesting habitat for peregrine falcons which have been present at the site for a number of years. 2.5 The after-use of the site would remain as currently permitted as limestone grassland with a nature conservation focus. Some areas of crushed limestone would be left uncovered for natural regeneration. The site boundaries would retain existing hedgerows which would be reinforced by additional planting and an area of tree planting in the southern part of the site. 2.6 The restoration proposals would be achieved using inert waste material imported to make up the shortfall of material available on the site. The agent’s email to the Environment Agency dated 25th February 2015 advised that the total importation figure of 200,000 cubic metres includes the 40,000 m3 of waste material imported in 2007 and approximately 5,000 m3 of soils stored in the western screening bund. 2.7 The use of inert wastes means that the restoration operations must comply with Environmental Permitting Regulations and be designed in accordance with Environment Agency guidance. The Applicant has submitted a copy of the Waste Recovery Plan which was prepared in order to be submitted with the Environmental Permit application to the Environment Agency. The pre- application advice the Applicant obtained from the Environment Agency dated 4th February 2014, in appendix D of the Supporting Statement, confirms that they consider the operation for importing waste to be a recovery operation utilising only the minimum amount of material necessary to undertake the slope stability.