Public inquiry date set for airfield quarry appeal

More than 5,700 people opposed the quarry application

Plans for a quarry near a Hampshire village are to be reviewed at a public inquiry.

Extraction company Cemex is appealing after Hampshire County Council rejected proposals to take sand and gravel from Hamble Airfield, at Hamble-le-Rice.

More than 5,700 people had objected to the application, which was refused in May amid concerns over lorry traffic, air pollution and flooding.

The Planning Inspectorate said an appeal process had begun with a two-day hearing set for 1 April.

County councillors had unanimously refused the application to extract 250,000 tons of sand and gravel a year, for seven years, from the former World War Two airfield.

They said lorry traffic would have an "unacceptable" impact on local roads and Cemex had not demonstrated that air pollution would not affect protected habitats and species.

The committee also said the quarry would result in unacceptable flooding impacts.

Cemex previously said it was "confident the site can be operated without any significant adverse effects".

The county council, which is due to hold elections on 1 May, is taking advice on whether the timing of the inquiry will affect proceedings as it falls within its pre-election period when some activities are restricted.

Head of development management Lisa Kirby-Hawkes said: "As a planning authority, we don't have any control about when the inquiry sits, we just have been told this is when it is happening."

A final decision on the appeal is expected at the end of May.