Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillor Fitzgerald-O’Connor (Local Member) advised that she was the local member for Item 6 (Land to the West of Hatford Quarry – Application MW.0066/19).

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2020 (PN3) and to receive information arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 March were approved.

There were no matters arising.

This Planning & Regulation Committee will be held virtually in order to conform with current guidelines regarding social distancing.  Normally requests to speak at this public meeting are required by 9 am on the day preceding the published date of the meeting.  However, during the current situation and to facilitate these new arrangements we are asking that requests to speak are submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting i.e. 9 am on Tuesday 26^th May. Requests to speak should be sent to graham.warrington@oxfordshire.gov.uk together with a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9 am 2 working days before the meeting.

Where a meeting is held virtually and the addressee is unable to participate remotely their written submission will be accepted.

Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

There were no Chairman’s updates.

Report by the Director for Planning & Place (PN6)

The application seeks planning permission to extract 875 000 tonnes of mineral from a 23-hectare extension to the west of the existing Hatford Quarry and to restore the quarry to agriculture using imported inert materials and materials from the site. The application is considered against development plan policies and other material considerations. It is  recommended for the grant of conditional planning permission subject to the completion first of a legal agreement setting out a 20 years’ long term management of restored habitats, to be funded by the applicant  and a routeing agreement to ensure that HGVs follow the route approved for HGVs associated with the existing quarry.

Subject to the applicant signing a Section 106 agreement for the matters outlined in Annex 2 and a routeing agreement to ensure that HGVs follow the route approved for HGVs associated with the existing quarry, it is RECOMMENDED that planning permission for MW.0066/19 be approved subject toconditions to be determined by the Director of Planning and Place, to include those set out in Annex 1 to the report PN6.

The Committee considered (PN6) an application to extract 875,000 tonnes of mineral from a 23-hectare extension to the west of the existing Hatford Quarry and restoration of the quarry to agriculture using imported inert materials and materials from the site. The application had been considered against development plan policies and other material considerations and   recommended for the grant of conditional planning permission subject to the completion first of a legal agreement setting out a 20 years’ long term management of restored habitats, to be funded by the applicant  and a routeing agreement to ensure that HGVs followed the route approved for HGVs associated with the existing quarry.

Gemma Crossley the Agent for the applicant was in attendance to respond to questions.

Catherine Kelham presented the report along with a further comment from the Environmental Strategy Officer raising no objection to the proposed development subject to conditions requiring a barrier to protect trees and woodland to be put in place prior to commencement of site clearance and there after maintained for the duration of the development; that farming operations increased the level of soil organic matter to enhance soils and natural capital and that the Landscape and Ecological Management Plan included details of how agricultural operations would be conducted to protect the environmental areas from contamination with fertiliser, pesticide and herbicide drift and surface run off.

Responding to:

Councillor Johnston - she confirmed that about a million tonnes of material would be extracted and tipping undertaken as part of the restoration programme would be monitored.

To Councillor Haywood who had raised the issue of a breach of condition at the site involving mud and sand deposits on the highway as detailed under Item 8 on this agenda she confirmed that recent resurfacing of the long haul road should help to resolve future issues.

Councillor Heathcoat - there would be no change to the current operation of  the hydraulic breaker and with regard to lighting she suggested that the agent might be better placed to provide details for that element of the scheme.

Mrs Crossley confirmed that no new lighting was proposed and other than headlights on vehicles in the new extraction would be restricted to existing operational areas such as the site office and weighbridge area and then only during operational hours such as early am or late pm during winter months. Lighting would be low level and downward facing.

Councillor Handley – a detailed dust management and monitoring plan would be conditioned with bunding along the northern boundary of phase one and moved south to the northern boundary of phase 2 and removed following the restoration of phase 3.  There was also a bund on the southern site boundary to mitigate impacts on the footpath and would be in place for the duration of the works.

Councillor Roberts – the noise from the breaker would be weighted to the human ear and assessed by the Environmental Health officer and factor into that assessment the issue of intermittent noise.

Councillor Webber  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/20

Report by the Director for Planning & Place (PN7).

This is a report to bring to committee the issue of the serving of the Prohibition Order for the Review of the Mineral Planning Permission (ROMP) at Thrupp Farm and Thrupp Farm, Radley which was resolved to progress at the meeting of the Planning and Regulation Committee on 9^th September 2019. The report set outs the issue to be considered which is whether the recent submission of a related planning application for a processing plant, conveyor and Bailey bridge for the removal of the mineral from part of the ROMP site changes the committee’s previous decision as to whether mineral working from the ROMP has permanently ceased or not and therefore the duty to serve a Prohibition Order or not.

It is RECOMMENDED that the Planning & Regulation Committee’s previous conclusion from its meeting on 9 September 2019 (Minute 39/19) that mineral working on the Radley ROMP site has permanently ceased and that there is a duty to serve a Prohibition Order be reviewed subject to the planning application submitted for processing plant, a conveyor and a Bailey Bridge for the removal of mineral extracted from part of the ROMP permission areas DD1 and DD2 being validated and pending the council’s determination of the planning application.

The Committee had before it a report (PN7) on the issue of the serving of the Prohibition Order for the Review of the Mineral Planning Permission (ROMP) at Thrupp Farm and Thrupp Farm, Radley which it had resolved to progress at its meeting on 9 September 2019. The report set out the issue to be considered which was whether the recent submission of a related planning application for a processing plant, conveyor and Bailey bridge for the removal of the mineral from part of the ROMP site changed the committee’s previous decision as to whether mineral working from the ROMP had permanently ceased or not and therefore the duty to serve a Prohibition Order or not.

However, since the publication of the report, on Wednesday 27 May, officers had received a lengthy Counsel’s opinion and summary written statement from the agent for H. Tuckwell and Sons Ltd and John Curtis and Sons Ltd. The Counsel’s opinion had raised various points on which officers considered advice needed to be obtained from the council’s own Counsel before officers could reasonably advise the committee with regard to the information contained therein. Given the late receipt of the information, it had not been possible to obtain further Counsel’s opinion on behalf of the council prior to the committee meeting and therefore officers were now recommending that the committee defers consideration of item 7 to its next committee meeting on 20 July 2020. If members were minded to do so then officers would not progress service of the Prohibition Order pending the outcome of members’ consideration of the item at that committee meeting.

The Committee also noted that a submission has also been received from Radley Parish Council stating that they would wish to make counter representations at the July meeting in respect of any further consideration to set aside the prohibition order which they fully supported.

RESOLVED: (nem con) that the Planning & Regulation Committee’s previous conclusion from its meeting on 9 September 2019 (Minute 39/19) that mineral working on the Radley ROMP site had permanently ceased and that there was a duty to serve a Prohibition Order be reviewed at its meeting on 20 July 2020

in the light of the new planning application submitted for processing plant, a conveyor and a Bailey Bridge for the removal of mineral extracted from part of the ROMP permission areas DD1 and DD2 and the Counsel’s opinion and Written Statement provided on behalf of H. Tuckwell and Sons Ltd and John Curtis and Sons Ltd and received on the 27 May 2020.

Report by the Director for Planning & Place (PN8)

The report updates members on the regular monitoring of minerals and waste planning permissions for the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 and on the progress of planning enforcement cases.

It is RECOMMENDED that the Schedule of Compliance Monitoring Visits in Annex 1 and the Schedule of Enforcement Cases in Annex 2 to the report PN8 be noted.

The Committee considered (PN8) a report on the regular monitoring of minerals and waste planning permissions for the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 and progress of planning enforcement cases.

Presenting the report David Periam and along with Bill Stewart-Jones responded to members’ questions as follows:

Regarding Shellingford Quarry extensive tarmacking would improve the situation with regard to mud on the road.  Similarly, as reported under Item 6, improvements had been made to the haul road at the Hatford site to improve conditions there.

Shipton on Cherwell - a S73 application had been submitted to address some of the breaches there and that was currently being validated.

Sutton Courtenay Landfill site - Councillor Webber had referred to a number of complaints received regarding odour.  Mr Periam advised that he was unaware of any such complaints but undertook to speak with Councillor Webber after the meeting.

Councillor Roberts - the County Council did not specifically send out a questionnaire to parish councils regarding performance but there were a number of liaison groups operating at a number of the larger sites where issues were discussed and parishes represented.  He would also look into the number  of visits in Cherwell which Councillor Roberts had felt were low.

Alkerton - Mr Stewart-Jones confirmed minerals were being removed under the old permission as part of the ROMP. Regarding land south of Barford Road Mr Periam undertook to look into the issue of unauthorised deposit of waste and respond to Councillor Reynolds after the meeting.

Regarding Harwell UKAE Mr Stewart-Jones advised that he had been due to try and visit the site but the Covid restrictions had prevented that.  Mr Periam added that Harwell was a secure and strictly regulated site and because of that it had been generally felt to be low priority for additional visits to those already carried out by the nuclear regulatory authorities.

RESOLVED: (nem con) that the Schedule of Compliance Monitoring Visits in Annex 1 and the Schedule of Enforcement Cases in Annex 2 to the report PN8 be noted