UPDATE (30/7/21): Tory-Run County Council and Nunney Parish Council APPROVE MORE QUARRIES! We Join Residents Who Say No

Standing Up For Residents

UPDATE (30/7/21): Incredibly, the Conservative Party-led County Council has APPROVED the re-opening of Bartletts Quarry in Nunney. But in January 2021, they had refused it!

What a spectacular u-turn involving Conservative Party Councillor Philip Ham. Yes, the same Councillor Ham involved in the highly controversial Sandys Hill Lane development, also near Frome. 

Shepton Mallet County Councillor John Parham, also a Conservative, chairs the Council's Regulation Committee that approved the re-opening of the quarry.

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UPDATE (2/7/21):  In its investigation of what local councillors have done to try to stop the Westdown Quarry from being re-opened, Somerset Independent has discovered that nearby Nunney Parish Council APPROVED the application, instead of listening to local residents who have objected. 

We are investigating:

1. how this could have happened,
2. why three parish councillors were absent from the meeting
3. why a recorded vote was called for prior to the approval of the applications
   

An extract from the minutes of the Parish Council are below:

In case,you can't read it, it reads:

"Cllr Ramsay asked for a recorded vote. Those in favour of approval Cllrs Russell, Walford, Barrett and Ramsay. Those for refusal Clegg."

Presumably Cllr Russell means Cllr Sadler.

Somerset Independents will be contacting these councillors to ask them why they voted this way, and whether there were any interests that they should have declared. No interests were declared by any councillor, as you can see in the further extract below.

Yes, three parish councillors were absent when these vital planning applications were considered:

The parish councillors absent were Councillors Francis Hayden (also Mendip District Councillor for Nunney, Cranmore and Doulting, and the same councillor who didn't pay his council tax for at least ten months, as we investigated and reported on this website), Pia McGee and Ron Warwick.

To say again, the approval for re-opening was voted on by councillors with four in favour and one against. If these councillors had been present, it could have been a tied vote.

Quite why Cllr Ramsay asked for a recorded vote is interesting. Also interesting is that two people from Hanson's were there.

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Residents say the proposed re-opening of Westdown Quarry, near Nunney, is a quarry too far.

It is a quarry that is quarrelsome. Residents are objecting to the proposals.

We have listened to the complaints from residents about the trucks on our roads and their impact on road safety on inadequate roads.

We have listened to the complaints from residents about the impact on the environment, on wildlife and on residents' lifestyles.

Somerset already has big problems with too much quarrying, with the impacts felt across the County and also over the border in Wiltshire. For example, the Maiden Bradley Weightwatchers have been campaigning in their area for residents there. But the problems impact on such a wide area, with so many quarries.

There seems to be a rush to get permissions to quarry.

Somerset Independents listens to residents and we act with residents on the issues that matter to them.

So our Officer Denise Wyatt put together the following objection to the application. It is an objection on behalf of residents that has been submitted to Somerset County Council.

Tell us what you think about the plans.

"Residents group Somerset Independents strongly objects to applications:
SCC/3795/2021, SCC/3836/2021, SCC/3837/2021, SCC/3838/2021

Our Objection is the same for all four applications and is attached in this document.

1.
Traffic
The increase use HGVs on undesignated roads is a continuing problem.
We support Maiden Bradley Weightwatchers objections:
“The B3092 is routinely used by Hansons and other business partners in
the quarry and construction industry as a ‘short-cut’. Convoys of HGVs
are blight on the well-being of our community. Our goal is to enforce
the Weight Limit agreed in 2011 for the B3092 and for HGV traffic to
use the designated strategic freight routes”
Somerset’s roads are full of these trucks. Many of the roads are totally inadequate
and the driving is atrocious. The negative impact on road safety continues.
There is also a lack of information on tonnage to be moved which the
developer claims will not require any additional vehicle movements.
Their claims are not credible. Neither are the claims about rail use credible.
2.
The Environment
The effects on the wildlife particularly Asham Wood which is an SSSI
is totally unacceptable.
National England also advised that “It is not clear that sufficient
consideration has been given to the risk to bats”
The increase in noise and dust has been insufficiently addressed by
the developer.
The overall effects on the water table have not been demonstrated.
Many properties in the area also have a private water system. The
effects of this development have not addressed the water supply to
local communities.
3.
County Council Policy
The County Council policy SMP3 requires evidence of clear economic
benefit to the local and/or wider communities and, that appropriate
mitigation measures are in place to ensure that any
adverse impacts to local communities and the environment are at
acceptable levels.
The County Council Regulations Committee on the 14th January 2021
RESOLVED: “that both Application No. SCC/3742/2020 and Application
No. SCC/3748/2020 be REFUSED as the applicant had provided
insufficient evidence that the benefit of the removal of restrictions
to allow Bartlett’s Quarry and Torr Works Quarry to operate in tandem,
would outweigh the harmful cumulative effects on local communities and 

environment from their concurrent working.”
4.
Refused
The County Council have already made their decision very clear, that
the adverse cumulative impacts of even more quarrying will be harmful
to the local communities and the environment.
Therefore like the recent previous application, these 4 applications must be REFUSED."