Smiths Concrete have lodged a planning application with Warwickshire County Council (WCC) as Minerals Planning Authority.
If they get permission, they plan to excavate 1.8 million tons of sand and gravel from 220 acres of rich farmland just
350 yards from the villages of Barford and Wasperton over at the very least the next 10 to 15 years.
Planning Documentation
The application is available to inspect on the WCC planning portal using reference WDC/22CM008
here.
The first round of consultation has now been completed and some 2,500 objections lodged (in contrast to most planning authorities these are not available online). Substantial deficiences in the plans and supporting
documents have been identified by the relevant WCC departments, external statutory consultees and by individual responses.
As a result WCC have issued a Regulation 25 Request for Information to Smiths Concrete.
No response has been forthcoming as yet. The Request runs to 30 pages and covers almost all aspects of the submitted plans and documentation ranging from Air Quality to Restoration of the land.
It also requires Smiths to complete a full Habitat Regulations Assessment for the site.
As part of the consultation process we have commissioned, using funds provided by public donation and the Barford Charity, several technical reports on key aspects of the plans.
These reports have been submitted to WCC and in many cases forwarded to the relevant internal and external statutory consultees. The reports, and the Regulation 25 Request, can be accessed here.
We have been publishing regular articles in the Barford, Sherbourne and Wasperton Village Voices magazine. These can be viewed here.
Next Steps
Once WCC have received and validated the revised planning documents there will be a second round of consultation.
Everyone who submitted a comment during the first conultation will be notified by post of the second consultation.
This consultation will be limited in time to just 3 weeks!
We aim to have our commissioned reports updated where necessary in light of the revised submission from Smiths.
However having new banners produced and commissioning updated reports costs money and we are therefore forced to ask for continuing financial support for our work. Details of how to do this are on the Contact Page.
Guidance to local decision makers is clear: "Local opposition or support for a proposal is not
in itself a ground for refusing or granting planning permission, unless it is founded upon valid material planning reasons".
So you must make clear what the detromental impact of the proposed quarry will be on you personally or on our communities and environment.
We will summarise the remaining deficiences in the submitted documents to assist you in making relevant, valid objections to the plans.