Residents to fight council’s 'horrifying' quarry U-turn

Residents of the village said the U-turn was "shocking"

A group of residents are fighting plans for a “horrifying” quarry that would see the extraction of 470,000 tonnes of sand and gravel close to their homes.

Wiltshire Council refused the plans in Ashton Keynes in January, but in what the residents said is a “shocking U-turn”, it has now come to an agreement with developer Earthline.

Ashton Keynes Parish Council said it was not consulted on the decision by Wiltshire Council and it is planning to submit an objection to the planning inspector.

Wiltshire Council said its "reasons for refusal have now been addressed", meaning they have withdrawn their objections.

The quarry would be set within a site of 27.2 hectares, including fields to the east of the High Road, as well as fields to the west of the High Road across to the B4696 Ashton Road.

With the application stretching across water bodies already prone to flooding, residents said they are concerned about the impact of the work, which is proposed over nine years.

The area next to the proposed site frequently floods

Resident Anne Senior said: "It’s horrifying to think that I will spend half my remaining life expectancy in the middle of a noisy, dirty quarry site."

While Natasha Inzani stated: "No one, not even our councillor, Chuck Berry, knew that negotiations with Earthline had been going on behind closed doors to agree the ‘conditions’ under which the project would be operated."

But Wiltshire Council said Earthline had provided a number of technical reports on areas such as flood risks.

Cabinet member for strategic planning, Nick Botterill, said: "These technical assessments demonstrate to Wiltshire Council that the impacts could be effectively managed, meaning that Wiltshire Council’s reasons for refusal have now been addressed."

He added that local residents are welcome to submit evidence if they feel the plans would harm their quality of life.

One resident said the pride they had winning Wiltshire’s best-kept large village "evaporated overnight" when they heard about the council’s U-turn

But, parish councillor Chuck Berry said the council’s decision had come as a surprise and that the communication between involved parties was not as he had hoped.

Councillor Gavin Grant described it as a “failing of process within the planning team” that has left residents and the parish council “high and dry”.

Chairman of Ashton Keynes Parish Council, Dave Wingrove, added: “We are desperately keen to mount our challenge to the revised situation.

“We are therefore seeking to get the inspector’s inquiry delayed.”

The application that Earthline submitted to Wiltshire Council stated: “The extraction of the resource at Wheatleys Farm is necessary to ensure a steady and adequate supply of an important mineral in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework.”

It added that approving the proposals would "help to secure" a continued local supply of building material locally and "avoid the need to transport from outside the county".

Quarry operator Earthline has not responded to requests for a comment from both the Local Democracy Reporting Service and the BBC.