Category: News

The Planning Inspectorate’s Public Inquiry, which started on the 1st of May, has now been adjourned until after the summer due to the many health concerns raised by members of the public. An appeal against the decision by the county council to refuse planning permission for the application to extract sand and gravel from the land (known locally as Bengeo Field) at Ware Park, Wadesmill Road, Hertford was made by RJD Ltd and Gowling WLG Trust Corporation Ltd to the Secretary of State. From the start of the Inquiry, the Stop Bengeo Quarry (SBQ) group raised the issue of the lack of public consultation about the appellant’s Health Impact Assessment (HIA), submitted just a few days before the proceedings began. This late submission meant that Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) had little opportunity to follow standard procedure with new evidence and were therefore unable to open it for consultation with the public. The late submission of the HIA meant that HCC were unable to...

The eighth day of the public enquiry into proposals for a quarry north on Hertford has yielded some important changes to the enquiry schedule. Following the late submission of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) by the appellants, The Inspector has ruled that the enquiry should be adjourned until September or October to allow the county council and Stop Bengeo Quarry to prepare a formal and detailed response to the contents of the HIA, as well as bringing in an independent health expert witness. As a result of this development, the enquiry will no longer be sitting on Monday 21st May 2018. Today's proceedings continued with the appellant's ecology witness Susan Deakin. In her Proof of Evidence, she stated that habitat losses during mineral extraction operations would be short-term and confined to land under active arable production. Any potential adverse effects on inhabiting wildlife would be substantially off-set by the restoration proposals for both schemes, which will result in significant biodiversity gain. The proposed Landscape...

The seventh day of the public enquiry saw the welcome appearance of Mark Prisk MP, in  support of the campaign against the Bengeo quarry. However, the day started with statements from and cross-questioning of the appellants representatives Robert Sellwood (on planning) and Richard Flatman (on landscape). Mr.Sellwood commented that it was only in the last few weeks had the appellants had heard from Hertfordshire County Council that building houses would not sterilise the land. He also explained that East Herts District Council saw reprofiling as a condition of building the houses. This could only happen if the minerals were extracted first. Cross questioning focused on the issue of sterilisation. Mr Selwood admitted to Andrew Stevenson that HERT4 represents only 0.1 percent of new houses needed in Hertfordshire. Richard Flatman started by giving an explanation of the strategy for landscape. In it he addressed one or two of the concerns that had come up during the course of the inquiry like care for hedgerows. He also...

Day six of the public enquiry started with a number of strong presentations in support of the Stop Bengeo Quarry campaign. Cllr Mari Stevenson spoke about the Bengeo Neighbourhood Plan and the engagement of community in planning of their environment, as well as appreciation of the green spaces in Hertford. Steve Halsey spoke about the research into dust PM10 and the acceptable thresholds worldwide. He also questioned the methodology of the threshold assessment in appelants' Health Impact Assessment. Laura Wyer made a strong case from parents' perspective and challenged the suggestions that there is no evidence that the Bengeo Field is used. She quoted some of the users of the field who walk from Chapmore End daily, walk children to school. She also referred to the online survey where majority of respondents said the footpath would be no longer used if there was a quarry alongside. Simon Pickering talked about the impact of the extensive process on the community and the utter logical disbelief...

The public enquiry in to proposals for a quarry north of Bengeo resumed today following the bank holiday break. Wednesday opened with County Councillor for Bengeo Andrew Stevenson speaking on behalf of local residents. A Risky Operation in a Sensitive Area He explained that as an elected County Councillor he represented the concerns and interests of about 12000 constituents and several hundred businesses in his division. He considered the application by considering key issues: The need for this site and the new minerals plan context Housing needs in Hertford, East Herts and Hertfordshire Transport problems and the council's Local Transport Plan Risk to water Supplies Risk to public health Impact on the Landscape Need for £2m bond to underpin any conditions His conclusion was: "This is a risky operation in a sensitive area. There is no need for the minerals extraction and no need for the housing development the appellants have linked to it. There are no net community benefits at all from the restoration...

Day Four of the public enquiry into the County Council's refusal of planning permission for a quarry north of Bengeo marks the halfway point in the process. Much of today's morning session was taken up with public speakers, including Stop Bengeo Quarry campaigners Andrew Smith (Traffic and truck movements), Aska Pickering (strength of SBQ campaign support), David Adam (Air quality), School Govenor Libby Mountford (Impact on school), Headmistress Julie Starkiss (Impact on school), Suzanne Bray (Parent and local resident), Tanya Needham (First hand Experience of quarrying), Thalia Weston (Parent of child with cystic fibrosis), John Howson (Landscape and ecology), Robert Chandler (Cycling), Anu Palmer (Amenity and location), Mark Lynch (Landscape, Bengeo Neighbourhood plan) and Bryan Lovell (Water risk). Other speakers were Terry Mansfield , John Barnes, Alan Burgess and Kelly Martin. There were also presentations in support of the campaign from Councillors Steve Cousins and Andrew Stevenson. Later in the day, the appelant's water consultant Christopher Leake of Halfren Water Ltd was cross questioned by the campaign's...

Welcome to our roundup of the highlights of Day 2 of the public enquiry at County Hall. The morning saw cross questioning of the County Council's mineral planner about gravel reserves. Significant time was also spent on discussing housing development, with the County Council asserting that housebuilding would not prevent future gravel extraction. The Council's Landscape Officer later set out the landscape objections, with questioning by the appellant's barrister focusing narrowly on trees. The Inspector picked up on this and tried to draw out a wider Landscape judgement. The Landscape Officer said that the quarry would change the character of the area overall. Finally, planning officer Felicity Hart gave her witness statement in which she outlined the reasons why she had refused the application, focusing particularly on the matters of the Green Belt and openness. She said that the field was a part of what Hertford was as a place and contributed to its character as it is at the gateway to Hertford....