Category: Responses

The County Council's Director of Public Health, Prof. Jim McManus,  has issued a final response to the planned quarry north of Bengeo. The response re-asserts concerns over the robustness of the applicants Air Quality Assessment. In his letter to planning officer Felicity Hart, he states: "... we would expect the applicant to demonstrate a more robust evidence base than the current assessment allows to support its view that there is no significant risk to human health. Given that has not been done, we are minded to object to the proposal as it stands." (our emphasis) In conclusion, Prof. McManus comments: "... the applicant has not, as yet, been able to demonstrate to a sufficiently robust level that there would not be such harm, nor demonstrate robustly that mitigation measures based on their assessment would be sufficient to remove or substantially mitigate any risk, based on their current Air Quality Assessment." » Read the final Public Health response here...

Bengeo Parish Council have renewed their criticism of plans for a quarry north on Bengeo, following resubmission of RJD's planning application. In their letter to the planning authority they state: "... although the key amendments to the Developers application for extraction of gravel at Bengeo Quarry are welcome this still leaves major problems for the residents of Bengeo Rural who live adjacent to the B158. As stated in our previous objection the B158 is an extremely dangerous particularly when accessing by the residents. For the Rickneys application approximately 10 years ago the main condition which had to be fulfilled before any extraction took place was that a third lane should be installed opposite the entrance so the traffic can flow even though lorries are waiting."...

The County Council's Public Health Service have responded to the applicant's resubmission of plans for a quarry north of Bengeo. County Councillor Andrew Stevenson reacted to the letter, commenting: "I think that this official letter from the Director of Public Health , Hertfordshire opens up the whole question of air quality as a risk yet to be quantified. It is helpful in setting the scientific background requirements that would have to be satisfied as a pre-requisite. It is clear that the applicants have not yet satisfied the pre-requisite requirements and it would seem to require a lot of work for them to do so. This is yet another reason why it is simple unacceptable to locate a quarry operation so close to an urban residential area and a primary school." The Public Health Service's response by Professor Jim McManus, The Director of Public Health, came after an earlier an earlier response was criticised for its language. In a letter dated 31st January 2017,...

The Campaign For Rural England have restaed their opposition the the proposed quarry north of Bengeo, despite the resubmission and further information provided by The Applicant. They also highlight an error in the submitted ‘revised contours’ plan which shows the area of the proposed flood mitigation pond. » Read CPRE's letter of objection...

The Stop Bengeo Quarry Campaign has now submitted their formal Traffic & Road Safety Response to the County Council. The document addresses some of the Highways issues raised by the quarry application, including traffic volumes, site management and Rights Of Way. » Read our Traffic & Road Safety Response...

The County Council's Highway department has recommended that planning permission for a quarry north of Bengeo be refused due to issues with the proposed entrance. Wadesmill Road junction with Revel's Farm entrance In their letter of objection, the department states: "The access arrangements as shown on Drawing No 131124/A/04 C are unacceptable from a highway safety point of view as the proposed right turn lane conflicts with the access serving Revels Croft Farm to the north of the proposed access". Their notice continues: "...  the proposed right turn lane would give rise to conditions prejudicial to highway safety in relation to traffic accessing Revels Croft Farm. A Stage One Safety Audit is required in support of any revised junction layout ."...

Hertford Civic Society have re-iterated their objection to quarrying north of Bengeo, following the submission of new documents by RJD Ltd. In their letter to the County Council they write: "We note that the applicants have submitted amendments to the above application. The main change is a revision to the proposed landform on completion of quarrying.  In our view this revision is very much to be welcomed because the landform now proposed would appear much less alien to its surroundings than that proposed originally.  We also welcome the reduction in the volume of material to be extracted, and consequent shortening of the length of time during which the landscape would be disrupted by quarrying operations.  That said, experience at other quarries in the area has shown how difficult it is to ensure that operators stick to the agreed timetable if demand for the product slackens. Despite these welcome amendments our objections to the quarry still stand, for the reasons set out in my letter of...

We have now submitted our formal response to RJD's recent landscaping changes. Our initial view is that for the new landscape plan to be implemented, as outlined, a reduction of two thirds is required (i.e. to 1 million tonnes or even less). The developer should provide a profile view showing the amount of gravel extracted North to South and East to West and a far fuller explanation as to how the restoration is to be carried out.  You can read our full response using the link below. » Landscape Response 12Jan17...

Public Health England have responded to plans for gravel extraction north of Bengeo. As the most senior advisory body in the country, they agree that dust from the quarry could pose a risk and says the quarry developers must show there will be no “additional emissions including dust or particulate matter which could adversely affect the local community. Their full response is shown below: (more…)...

The County Council's Landscape Officer's report is now available. The conclusion reads: "Overall the proposed development does not go far enough to compensate for the permanent negative landscape effects due to the creation of an unsympathetic landform profile, and the removal of some distinctive historic landscape features." » Click here to read the Landscape Report (PDF)...