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ITEM PN7

PLANNING & REGULATION COMMITTEE –
13 JANUARY 2003

NON-COMPLIANCE WITH CONDITION 25 OF PERMISSION No.RAD/3963/2-CM (EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE EXTRACTION OF SAND AND GRAVEL) TO ALLOW A FURTHER EXTENSION OF TIME FOR EXTRACTION UNTIL 31 DECEMBER 2007 AT THRUPP LANE, RADLEY, ABINGDON APPLICATION NUMBER
RAD/3963/3-CM

Report by Director of Environmental Services

1. Planning permission for sand and gravel extraction from this site was granted in July 1979 with an end date of December 1992. Permission to extend this end date was subsequently approved in October 1992. Condition 25 of that consent states:

"Except with the express written consent of the County Planning Authority – (i) no excavations shall be undertaken or continued after 31 December 2002 or such earlier date that the County Planning Authority has determined that working has been completed; (ii) all restoration shall be carried out and completed not later than 31 December 2003 or within one year of the completion of mineral extraction whichever is the earlier."

2. It is clear that the extraction of all sand and gravel reserved from this site will not be completed by the above date. Accordingly, the applicant is now applying to extend the period for extraction for a further five years, that is until the end of December 2007.

The Site (refer to plan) (download as .doc file)

3. Sand and gravel operations at Radley have gone on for the last 50 years. The quarry which exists today is part of an extensive area of mineral working split in two by the London – Oxford railway line. The workings to the east of the railway have been completed and subsequently filled with pulverised fuel ash (pfa) from Didcot Power Station. This land is being restored to a mix of agriculture, woodland and nature conservation. The area to the west of the railway has also been mostly worked out and is currently being filled with pfa. The sand and gravel processing plant is located in this area at the southern end of Thrupp Lane. The areas where sand and gravel remain to be worked are marked on the attached plan, immediately to the east of the processing plant and alongside Barton Lane to the west.

The Proposed Development

4. The applicant’s remaining permitted reserves at Radley total approximately 140,000 tonnes. At current rates of extraction the applicant states that this will take a further five years to process. All the material will go through the existing processing plant with access onto Thrupp Lane. Current rates of extraction will continue so traffic and other associated activity levels on site would remain the same.

Considerations

5. Consultation responses are set out in Annex 1. There are no third party representations.

Policies

6. Relevant planning policies are set out in Annex 2.

Comments of the Director of Environmental Services

7. Section 54 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 states that decisions should be made in accordance with the provisions of the Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Radley has long been recognised as a sand and gravel extraction area and is included in the Minerals and Waste Local Plan as an area where planning permission for sand and gravel extraction exists (see paras 7.53 to 7.56 of MWLP).
8. It is clear that the extraction of sand and gravel on this approved site will not be completed by the due date, ie. the end of this year. The rate of extraction fluctuates according to market demand, and other reasons why extraction has not been completed within the period envisaged have been the undertaking of archaeological excavations in the summer months and periodic flooding in the winter. In these circumstances I consider it reasonable to allow this application to enable the completion of mineral extraction on a committed site.
9. I am concerned that there are buildings on the site that are not related to sand and gravel extraction and may not have permitted development rights to remain. The consideration of this application offers the opportunity to resolve this issue. I suggest therefore that an additional condition is imposed which requires the submission of a site plan indicating all plant and buildings on the site together with the use to which they are put and the relevant planning permission they relate to. Once that plan has been agreed, all plant/buildings without the benefit of planning permission or permitted development rights should be removed before any mineral extraction under this new consent can proceed.

Environmental Implications

10. These are set out in the report.

Financial and Staff Implications

11. There are none unless the applicant appeals against any conditions attached to a permission or refusal of the application.

RECOMMENDATIONS

12. It is RECOMMENDED that:

1. Application No. RAD/3963/3-CM for the non-compliance with Condition 25 of Permission No. RAD/3963/2-CM be approved, the new Condition 25 to read as follows:

"Except with the express written consent of the Mineral Planning Authority –

1. no excavations shall be undertaken or continued after 31 December 2007 or such earlier date that the Mineral Planning Authority has determined that working has been completed;
2. all restoration shall be carried out and completed not later than 31 December 2008 or within one year of the completion of mineral extraction whichever is the earlier",
3. within three months of the date of this permission a plan shall be submitted to the Mineral Planning Authority specifying all the fixed plant and buildings used on the site and their uses, which should be in accordance with permitted development rights as set out in the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 Schedule 2, part 19. No working of sand and gravel shall take place from the site from three months after the date of this permission unless such a plan has been submitted and approved and no working shall take place unless those buildings and plant which do not have the benefit of planning permission or permitted development rights have been removed.

2. all other existing Conditions on Permission No. RAD/3963/2-CM to remain in force.