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 and Nature Conservation Management Plan (to be secured through planning condition) would aim to ensure that the existing populations of wildlife are safeguarded in the long term and that the retained and new habitat features are managed in accordance with sound ecological principles in the long term. She was adamant that government standard 15m is an adequate buffer zone for St John’s Wood.

Ms Deakin was asked if there would be any danger to St John’s Wood if the quarrying changes it from being on a slope to a low ridge? She replied that the rainwater resources the trees depend on would not be affected. She was also asked if some of the post-restoration benefits depend on continuing, long-term active management, to which she answered ‘yes’.

The enquiry has now been adjourned for up to 5 months.