To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.
Note: A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.
Minutes:
The Chairman read the following questions on behalf of residents of Burlescombe with regard to Item 10 on the agenda:
Mrs Rhiannon Holman ( resident of Burlescombe and member of Burlescombe Enviromental Liaison):
Questions
Since the previous Planning Committee meeting on 14 June 2017, there have been three further developments which need to be drawn to the attention of Members:
· Devon County Council has received a planning application to extract an additional 600,000 tonnes from Westleigh/Burlescombe Quarry (this would hugely increase lorry movements which are already over 200 movements per day).
· The Chair of Governors for Burlescombe Primary School has confirmed that a Governor has been appointed to lead on investigating the situation relating to the impact on school children from Diesel Emissions. The Governor will be liaising with interested parties including the Parish Council on the matter.
· The Government has defined new policies and strategies for addressing the impact of Diesel Emissions – especially within our towns and villages.
Bearing the above in mind, will any of these new developments be taken into account in making planning decisions?
In view of the national movement on reducing/eliminating diesel pollutants and the Councils responsibility for its residents, why would you choose to put 6 new houses in a place where they are already 200 diesel lorry movements per day?
(and whilst the lorries may be “low emission” that is not the issue – it is the type of emission that diesels give out, as is widely reported in terms of peoples health and wellbeing).
There was a significant incident this morning with a quarry lorry that shed part of its load as he climbed out through the village. The lorry deposited a large quantity of stone on the road just adjacent to the proposed Affordable Homes site (further stone had already been deposited in other areas of the village).
However given it is at this point (proposed Affordable Homes site) that the lorries need to change gear and climb, a very large amount of stone was deposited.
I attach some photographs and further photos were taken by a Parish Councillor too.
Given the quarry lorry stone spillage ( as shown in the attached photographs) is this a safe location to site Affordable Homes?
Mr Morcom
Given that there are no amenities (Public Transport, Shops, etc) in Burlescombe and the affordable houses are within “open countryside”, how can this be classified as a sustainable location if every person would need to travel in their own vehicle beyond Burlescombe to access services and facilities to sustain living within those properties?
Mr Duzy
As you will be aware since the planning application for affordable dwellings has been made, Westleigh Quarry has submitted an application to extract an additional 600,000 tonnes of material from the quarry. This will necessitate additional lorry movements through the village with the associated implications for Highway safety and air quality. May I ask the committee if they can give consideration to the safety and sustainability of the site given the likely impact of this and any potential future applications to extract additional material from the quarry with regard to highway safety and air quality?
Mrs Downing again referring to item 10 on the agenda, (Burlescombe) stated that: when I moved to Burlescombe 14 years ago lorry traffic from the quarry was not so heavy, whether output has increased and by how much is not as important as the fact that it has increased. Where this site is during the week anyone living in affordable housing will hear and feel the noise and vibrations and smell the asphalt and not find it extremely easy to enter and leave the parking areas and if visitors arrive with extra transport where will they park? A display has been offered showing an alternative lorry route but funding is still not available. At the minerals plan last year the inspector paid particular attention to the fact that Burlescombe is very unique. It has two quarries in its parish and the possibility of Penslade, which is partly in our parish. The Government say affordable housing is needed where appropriate sites are provided. The Parish Council and local residents objected to this site, only one person supported it. Is this really an appropriate site as far as traffic, highways, sustainability and air quality are concerned? I would also note that in the Mid Devon Local Plan, which is to be discussed with the Inspector soon, this application is outside of permitted building area in the future.