1 March 2013
Local Green Party councillors have delivered letters to 2000 homes across communities most likely to be affected by the proposed concentration of minerals sites at Rivenhall End and near Silver End in Braintree District. The Minerals Plan consultation closed yesterday (28th Feb).
Essex County Council (ECC) proposes major extensions to the existing quarry (and a large new site) on land around Rivenhall Airfield (1) as well as a new site at Colemans Farm, Rivenhall End (2).
Taken together, just these two locations are expected by ECC to provide 45% of the entire additional minerals allocation for the whole of Essex to the year 2030.
And taken with the proposed site at Rayne, the southern half of Braintree District is expected by ECC to take 56% of the county allocation.
Braintree District Council has already voted to object to the Plan, as have many local parish councils, because the Plan is "Unsound" as it concentrates so much extraction in one area and so fails to achieve the Plan aim of dispersal across Essex and also fails to minimise HGV haulage - which the Plan itself says should be done by siting quarries closer to major growth areas.
Cllr. James Abbott, Green Party District Councillor for Bradwell, Silver End and Rivenhall said
"Many residents have contacted us about the ECC minerals consultation. It is a complex and lengthy document which has understandably put some people off, but despite this there has been a late surge in representations which it would be hoped ECC will take notice of.
If all these sites go ahead there will be dramatic and negative impacts on the countryside and wildlife habitats. Villagers will overlook deep quarries for many years, with footpaths and bridleways cut off or diverted, a country lane turned into an HGV access and the obvious potential for noise and dust. Increased HGV traffic is also of course a major concern and we will take no reassurances from landowners that HGVs will stick to agreed routes - we have seen such assurances broken before.
The almost unanimous cross-party decision at Braintree District Council on February 20th to object to the Plan showed how strongly councillors feel about this issue. We will need to continue to work together and with our local communities to get ECC to change its position given its typical intransigence on minerals and waste issues.
We are not against all sites - we have accepted 2 more sensible modest extensions to Bradwell Quarry (A3 and A4) as the district's "fair share" of the Essex total. But what ECC is proposing is totally excessive and completely unreasonable - but typical of their high-handed attitude towards local communities.
At the BDC meeting there was just a single councillor, who is also the county councillor for areas affected by the quarries, who chose to speak in support of the sites. We would ask the questions once again: why does this one Conservative councillor continue to speak up for major development schemes put forward by a particular landowner and why do senior Conservative Councillors at ECC continue to support such massive waste and minerals development at Rivenhall Airfield ?"
ENDS
Notes:
(1)
Large sand and gravel workings (sites A3 - A7) covering an area of 202 hectares are proposed by Essex County Council at Rivenhall Airfield (see attached map). This is in ADDITION TO the proposed waste site and incinerator. Operations would run for at least 16 years and would extend the existing quarry to a length of over 4km East - West although site A7 is really a new site. It is proposed to extract 16 million tonnes - which amounts to 39% of the total for the whole of Essex to the year 2030.
The quarry would come closer to Silver End than any part has so far. Site A5 would be directly visible from parts of the village and would cut off 3 local footpaths. The Eastern end would almost reach Coggeshall Hamlet
There is no assessment in the Plan of the cumulative impacts of sites A5 - A7 with the proposed Major Waste Site and Incinerator, contrary to policies in the Plan.
Sites A3 and A4 have been accepted by BDC and a number of local parish councils as reasonable extensions to the existing quarry and so are not objected to.
(2)
A new sand and gravel site is proposed at Colemans Farm (site A46) near Rivenhall End. The site covers 46 hectares. It is proposed to extract 2.5 million tonnes over a 14 year period.
At the previous stage of the Plan, this site was not on the list of Preferred sites. By including it now, ECC has ignored the views of local people, parish councils and Braintree District Council (BDC) who said at the last consultation that the concentration of sites locally was already too high.
The ECC map for the site says it is in Witham. It is actually within the parish of Rivenhall and the village of Rivenhall End is conveniently missed off the top of the map !
Site A46 would result in severe damage to Little Braxted Lane, which is proposed to be the access to the site. This is currently a quiet single track country lane with high hedgerows on both sides. The site would also be a major intrusion on the Blackwater Valley.
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