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Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: County Hall, New Road, Oxford

Contact: Graham Warrington  Tel: 07393 001211; E-Mail:  graham.warrington@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

26/18

Election of Chairman

Minutes:

RESOLVED: that Councillor Les Sibley be appointed Chairman for the Council year.

27/18

Election of Deputy Chairman

Minutes:

RESOLVED: that Councillor Jeanette Matelot be appointed Deputy Chairman for the Council year.

28/18

Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments

Minutes:

 

 

Apology for Absence

 

 

Temporary Appointment

 

Councillor Anda Fitzgerald-O’Connor

 

 

Councillor Ian Hudspeth

 

29/18

Minutes pdf icon PDF 226 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2018 (PN5) and to receive information arising from them.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 may 2018 were approved and signed.

 

Minute 24/18 - Application MW.0015/18 withdrawn by the applicants

30/18

Petitions and Public Address

Minutes:

 

 

Speakers

 

Item

 

 

Dr Anna Hoare

Derek Allan

 

 

8 -. Wicklesham Quarry – Application MW.0084/17

 

 

 

31/18

Section 73 application to vary conditions 1 and 13 of planning permission P15/V2384/CM (MW.0134/15) to allow for bunds to be retained on the site and to incorporate them into a revised restoration scheme at Wicklesham Quarry, Sandshill, Faringdon, Oxon, SN7 7PQ - Application number MW.0084/17. pdf icon PDF 479 KB

Report by Director for Planning & Place (PN8).

 

This is a planning application to allow a change in the restoration of the quarry site. The changes are to retain some earth mounds, alter the contours of the final landform and make some alterations to the final ponds on the site.

 

The report outlines the relevant planning policies, along with the comments and recommendations of the Director for Planning and Place.

 

The main issues with the application are the effect on the local amenity, biodiversity and landscape. It is felt that the proposed changes would allow for an acceptable restoration and the recommendation is therefore to approve the application subject to there being no objection from the two consultants.

 

It is RECOMMENDED that planning permission for application no. MW.0084/17 be approved subject to conditions to be determined by the Director for Planning and Place but to include the following:

 

1)        The development shall be carried out strictly in accordance with the particulars of the development, plans and specifications contained in the application (and letters/e-mails of amendment) except as modified by conditions of this permission. The approved plans and particulars comprise:

·  Application form dated 30/08/2017

·  Letter dated 29/08/2017

·  Supplemental Letter dated 17/04/2017

·  Ecology Statement dated 29/08/2017

·  Enzygo Method Statement dated 16/04/2018

·  Site Restoration Plan - Drawing no. DG/QO/WIC/RES/01 Rev D

·  Cut and Fill balance to achieve restoration levels as per drawing no. DG/QO/WIC/RES/01 Rev D

·  Site Location Plan - Drawing No: DG/OO/WIC/TEMP/02.

·  Aftercare Scheme set out in paragraph 3.0 onwards in the approved Restoration and Aftercare Scheme dated December 2012.

·  Conservation of geological interest features of SSSI Plan - Restoration and aftercare scheme dated December 2012 subject to revised restoration plan - DG/QO/WIC/RES/01 Rev D.

 

2)     The works relating to the restoration and aftercare of the site shall be carried out only between the following times: 0700 to 1800 hours Mondays to Fridays and 0700 to 1300 hours on Saturdays; no operations shall take place at any time on Sundays or recognised public holidays. 

 

3)     The site shall be completely restored by 30 September 2018 in accordance with the approved restoration scheme DG/QO/WIC/RES/01 Rev D.

 

4)     No reversing bleepers, other than those emitting white noise, shall be fixed to, or used on, any mobile plant.

 

Informative

 

All bird nests, eggs and young are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) which makes it illegal to intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is use or being built. Therefore, no removal of [trees, scrub, hedgerows, and grassland] should take place between 1st March and 31st August inclusive to prevent committing an offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). If any protected species [e.g. bats, badgers, dormice, otters, water voles, reptiles, amphibians, and breeding birds] are found at any point, all work should cease immediately. Killing, injuring or disturbing any of these species could constitute a criminal offence. Before any further work takes place a suitably qualified ecological consultant should be consulted for advice on  ...  view the full agenda text for item 31/18

Minutes:

The Committee considered PN8 a planning application to allow a change in the restoration of the quarry site in order to retain some earth mounds, alter the contours of the final landform and make some alterations to the final ponds on the site.

 

The report having outlined the relevant planning policies, identified the main issues with the application which were the effect on the local amenity, biodiversity and landscape concluded that the proposed changes would allow for an acceptable restoration and therefore recommended approval subject to conditions.

 

Presenting the report Mr Broughton pointed out that the revised application was not significantly different to the original restoration proposal.  The contours on the site needed to be resolved to aid restoration to agriculture as the site was very wet in winter. The site had been partially restored but a few changes were now required to finalise the scheme. There would be no further import of material.

 

He then responded to questions from:

 

Councillor Johnston – the revised ditch proposal did not run on to the other pond. He confirmed that it was sometimes wet and referred to photographs taken a site visit in 2017 but was dry at the moment.

 

Councillor Matelot – the ponds would not be used for livestock and a fencved buffer zone would be erected to prevent them entering them.

 

Councillor Roberts – he was unable to confirm the frequency of geological visits but to a second question he could confirm there would be no requirement to import any more material other than what was already there.

 

Anna Hoare spoke against the application. She referred to a number of conclusions set out in the 2009 report by Enzygo which, despite the position and nature of bodies of water within the site varying considerably over time, had appeared to support the presence of a good/medium sized population of breeding great crested newts. The report also identified that the presence of this great crested newt population was a material consideration for decisions regarding the formation of plans to restore the existing void and that that restoration would need to be carried out under the auspices of a Conservation Regulations licence to be obtained from Natural England because of the presence of GCN.  She went on to explain that the Enzygo report further stated that the ponds were not temporary nor formed of standing water but were fed by groundwater and that in addition to the four ponds there were a number of more temporary areas of standing water all supported primarily by groundwater. Although some of the areas were transitory in nature any design needed to seek to preserve a proportion of open water throughout the year.  Irregular and uneven edges around the ponds, which would be allowed to colonise with flora and fauna naturally would assist in creating and maximising ecotones. However, she explained that that had not happened and alleged damage had been caused between May and October 2016. It was during that period when enforcement action  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31/18