Council rejects re-opening of Wolverton quarry
DEMOCRACY kicked bureaucracy into touch in Winchester on Wednesday morning, after Hampshire county councillors voted to throw out a plan to re-open a disused lime quarry in Wolverton.
Villagers in Tadley, Kingsclere, Hannington and Baughurst were all fiercely opposed to the proposals by Tadley company John Stacey and Sons Ltd, to use the Kingsclere Lime Quarry, which lies in an area of outstanding natural beauty, as a transfer station for construction, demolition and excavation waste.
Faced with a line-up of half-a-dozen county, borough and parish councillors – all of whom argued against the proposals – along with a gallery full of objecting villagers, councillors voted 12 against and two in favour of planning officers’ recommendations to approve the proposals.
Speaking on behalf of Kingsclere villagers - already battling lorries driving through the centre of Kingsclere - borough councillor Cathy Osselton (Con Kingsclere) , said no consideration had been given to cumulative traffic growth on the A339 corridor, likely to increase due to housing developments in Newbury, Basingstoke and operations at Greenham Common:
"It would render the A339 unfit for purpose and I ask, will a new accident blackspot emerge?" said Mrs Osselton.
Hampshire county councillor, Warwick Lovegrove (Lib Dem Tadley and Baughurst) said: "No amount of compromise can, or will, make this site safe."
Borough councillor, Michael Bound (Lib Dem Baughurst and Tadley north) said; "This is a recipe for disaster," while a serious consideration should be, he said: "How such scant consideration of peoples' views fits in with any idea of localism?"
County councillor Keith Chapman (Con Calleva and Kingsclere) said the A339 was like, he said: "A racing track," with drivers, he added, behaving like idiots.
Borough councillor Marilyn Tucker (Con Pamber and Silchester) argued supporters were working from a "Theoretical position and not in touch with what is happening in reality," said Mrs Tucker.
Wolverton villager, Simon Pigott, who lives close to the quarry, said there was no evidence of any assessment of the cost and scope of siting the transfer station elsewhere and likely, he added: "To have a detrimental effect on the environment and landscape:
"Instead of emphasising 'benefits' and 'enhancements' to the area, this application should be examined in the face of 36,000 traffic movements a year," said Mr Pigott.
The vice chairwoman of Baughurst Parish Council, Janette Hewitt, said extra HGV's would also cause frustrated car drivers to divert from the A339 through neighbouring villages, adding she was also representing similar opposing views of Hannington villagers.
Stacey’s agent Roger Miles’ argument – including that the proposal utilised an existing quarry and had passed highways and safety audits – failed to convince councillors, who refused the proposals after hearing there would be 100 lorry journeys a day to and from the site, bearing an average 19-tonne load, with 70 per cent travelling along the A339 in the Basingstoke direction and 30 per cent towards Newbury.
The rejection came despite a warning from chairman Geoffrey Hockley (Con, Fareham and Titchfield), that the application was likely to go to appeal, if turned down.
