Development Management Officer Report Committee Application
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Development Management Officer Report Committee Application Summary Committee Meeting Date: Item Number: Application ID: LA09/2017/0542/F Target Date: Proposal: Location: Lateral extensions in a Westerly and Southerly Brackagh sand and gravel quarry 29 Disert direction to existing quarry development site Road Draperstown Magherafelt and holistic restoration of previous and proposed mineral extraction areas Referral Route: Committee - Major application Recommendation: APPROVE Applicant Name and Address: Agent Name and Address: Creagh Concrete Products Ltd Quarryplan Ltd Blackpark Road 6 Saintfield Road Toome Crossgar Magherafelt Downpatrick BT41 3SL BT30 9HY Executive Summary: Considerable attention has been paid to the future restoration plans with the submission of a number of amended plans. Signature(s): Application ID: LA09/2017/0542/F Case Officer Report Site Location Plan Consultations: Consultation Type Consultee Response Statutory Transport NI - Enniskillen Advice Office Non Statutory Environmental Health Mid Substantive Response Ulster Council Received Statutory Rivers Agency Advice Non Statutory Shared Environmental Substantive Response Services Received Statutory NIEA Extension Required Statutory Historic Environment Division Extension Required (HED) Statutory NIEA Statutory NIEA Statutory Historic Environment Division (HED) Representations: Letters of Support None Received Letters of Objection None Received Number of Support Petitions and No Petitions Received signatures Number of Petitions of Objection and No Petitions Received signatures Summary of Issues Page 2 of 22 Application ID: LA09/2017/0542/F Characteristics of the Site and Area The application is for the extension of the existing Brackagh Quarry which is located some 5km southwest of Draperstown. The site is accessed off the B162 Lough Fea Road. The existing quarry is bounded by agricultural fields to the north, south and west. To the east of the site is the Disert Road. Brackagh Quarry sits high in the landform and to the south east lies the small ‘Black Water’ watercourse which feeds into the larger ‘White Water’ watercourse to the northeast. At present minerals are being extracted from two distinct extraction areas in the north of the site and the south of the site. The site offices are in the north east of the site, adjacent to the site’s main access road. Description of Proposal This application is for the lateral extension in a westerly and southerly direction to existing quarry development site and holistic restoration of the previous and proposed mineral extraction areas. Planning Assessment of Policy and Other Material Considerations Strategic Planning Policy Statement The Regional Development Strategy 2035 Magherafelt Area Plan 2015 A Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland Planning Policy Statement 2 - Natural Heritage Planning Policy Statement 6 - Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage Planning Policy Statement 21 - Sustainable Development in the Countryside The RDS 2035 provides an overarching strategic planning framework to facilitate and guide the public and private sectors. There are 8 revised aims within the RDS 2035 one of which is “To take actions to reduce our carbon footprint and facilitate adaptation to climate change”. It also states that we need to reduce harmful green house has emissions to help reduce the threat of climate change and promote sustainable construction, consumption and production. The SPPS is a statement of the Department’s policy on important planning matters that should be addressed across NI. The SPPS acknowledges that the minerals industry makes an essential contribution to the economy and to our quality of life, providing primary minerals for construction, such as sand, gravel and crushed rock, and other uses and is also a valued provider of jobs and employment, particularly in rural areas. Minerals can only be extracted from sites where they occur, and there may be limited opportunities for consideration of alternative sites with a further challenge being the restoration of sites upon completion of work associated with the extraction and processing of materials. The regional strategic objectives for minerals development are to: - Facilitate sustainable minerals development through balancing the need for specific minerals development proposals against the need to safeguard the environment; - Minimise the impacts of minerals development on local communities, landscape quality, built and natural heritage, and the water environment; and - Secure the sustainable and safe restoration, including the appropriate re-use of mineral sites, at the earliest opportunity. This application seeks planning permission for a proposed extension to both the west and south of the existing Creagh Concrete Sand and Gravel Pit. Sand and gravels are currently being Page 3 of 22 Application ID: LA09/2017/0542/F worked from two distinct extraction areas; the first extraction area is located to the north of the site, with the quarry faces being developed towards their permitted northern and north-western extraction limits; while the second extraction area is in the south of the site, with the quarry faces being developed to their permitted southern extraction limits. Following extraction, the site is to be restored to conservation habitat. The red line circles the entire c.65 hectare extant quarry area which has been approved under the following applications: - H/2004/1385: Consolidation of previous planning consents H/1996/0130, H/1996/0221, H/1998/0180 and a Westerly lateral extension. Provision of complete restoration. - H/2009/0662: Northerly extension to the existing sand and gravel quarry at Brackagh with restoration to a variety of conservation habitats - H/2011/0508: non-compliance with condition No. 10 of planning permission H/2004/1385/F; southern extension to the existing sand and gravel quarry with a restoration to a variety of habitats. The westerly extension is to be approximately 4.6 ha and the southerly extension was 8.6ha which will result in an entire quarry area of some 77 ha. An area of peat overburden was translocated under the 2009 and 2011 planning applications to lands in the east and north east section of the existing quarry at Brackagh. Subsequently, these lands were subject to a planning application seeking to construct and operate 3 No wind turbines. Planning permission for the wind turbines and associated infrastructure was granted planning permission in 2010. There was no provision of a scheme to relocate the peat and the applicant considered this current application provides MUDC and the applicant an opportunity to address the holistic restoration of the quarry site and matters which have been affected by the grant of planning permission for the wind turbines. Mineral can only be extracted from where it is found. The applicant has stated that a quarry location is not only governed by geological constraints, but in NI as haulage comprises such a large percentage of selling price (in the region of 25-40%), geographical location is also a key component. Due to the market forces of supply and demand this constrains mineral operations to a given distance from a target market. Policy MIN1 of A Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland (PSRNI) states that extensions to existing mineral workings which minimise environmental disturbance in the countryside will normally be preferred to new workings on greenfield sites. As assessment is required of the need for a mineral resources against the need to protect and conserve the environment. The agent has detailed the selection process that has been adopted in arriving at the position that an extension of the Brackagh operation provides the Best Practical Environmental Option (BPEO) for a development of this magnitude. Details have been provided on 5 options and has concluded that the westerly and southern extensions will involve the translocation of peat, the removal of marshy grasslands and the removal of wet modified bog during the “winning” process. There are a number of owner/operators of the existing operations who are in direct competition with the applicant and are unwilling to dispose of their site. It is the contention of the agent that by removing the active peatland, providing a translocation plant for the remaining habitats and a holistic restoration concept, in line with PPS 2 Policy NH 5, the grant of planning permission is unlikely to result in the acceptable adverse impact on the environment. As referred to above galciofluvial sands and gravels are currently being worked from two distinct extraction areas: the first extraction area is located to the north of the site, with the quarry faces being developed towards their permitted northern and north-western extraction limits; while the second extraction area is in the south of the site, with the quarry faces being developed to their permitted southern extraction limits. The ES states that all quarry faces are currently being developed as a series of benches with the use of either a ~10m-reach 360° excavator or a ~7m Page 4 of 22 Application ID: LA09/2017/0542/F reach wheeled front-loading shovel. Excavated mineral is transported via dump truck to a fixed screening plan in the centre of the site where it is washed and screened into a series of graded quarry products. It is understood this method of extraction will continue to be adopted for the proposed western extension currently under consideration. The workable deposit at Brackagh Quarry is represented by the central Glacio-Fluvial sand