RESIDENTS living in fear of a quarry being built on their doorstep have seen a ray of hope after the borough council released a letter outlining a host of concerns over the plans.
Issued on December 21, the 11-page missive raises a number of issues relating to plans to turn Bridge Farm in Shinfield into the mineral extraction facility which will include a ready mix concrete plant and parking for HGV lorries.
Sent to CEMEX UK, the Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) letter said that a number of outstanding matters needed to be addressed before it could determine on the company’s application.
The include an additional archaeological assessment, and an assessment of the impact of heritage assets within a kilometre of the site, including parkland water features.
The council also want CEMEX to look again at the noise assessment, the air quality and provide new traffic surveys that include modelling and road safety.
There also needs to be an investigation into the trees around the site and the animals that live in them including bats, newts and dormouse.
TV football commentator Clive Tyldesley lives nearby and is one of the objectors behind the Facebook group Shinfield & Arborfield Residents Against Quarry & Cement Factory (SARAQCF).
He said: “Wokingham Council have just published a report compiled by their own Minerals Consultant that places question mark after question mark against the CEMEX plans to quarry Bridge Farm. It runs to 11 pages and catalogues a long list of omissions and flaws in the original planning application.”
“I understand that there is a process here, what I don’t understand is how CEMEX and Farley Estates can formally apply to dig up nearly 500 acres of rolling fields and build a cement works without doing the proper homework on how it’s going to impact on communities, wildlife, air quality, landscape, water tables, transport and all the other issues in the report. Instead, a Minerals Consultant has been hired, at ratepayers’ expense, to point out all of the failings in their proposal and now they are to get a second chance to put a better case together.”
And he added that the plans for the quarry come at the same time that WBC is considering giving planning permission to a new relief road which would be built on Arborfield countryside.
He said: “I wouldn’t mind but this is all happening at the very same time that the very same Council looks set to give the go-ahead to the building of a new road across the same swathe of countryside. The area around Arborfield is already having to come to terms with massive new housebuilding projects that are bound to put a strain on local infrastructure. It needs a time-out.”
“The clock is not ticking here. There are existing stockpiles, there are alternatives… alternatives to digging up this countryside. CEMEX have a cement factory five miles away in Eversley. This is an application to build another one for purely commercial reasons and it turns out to be an ill-conceived and badly-researched application.
“It’s just not good enough… certainly not good enough for an elected Council that represents affected communities to be saying ‘have another stab at convincing us.’
“CEMEX and Farley Estates have had their chance to put their case, I don’t think they deserve another one now.”
His view was echoed by Arborfield councillor Gary Cowan who said: “Reading the Council’s own comments the Officers should do the right thing now by bringing it to the Planning Committee with a recommendation for refusal.
“The environmental vandalism on this scale and the impact that will have on local residents
if this planning application were to be approved is incalculable. Residents quality of life should have precedence over such environmental vandalism.”
A CEMEX spokesperson told The Wokingham Paper: “We are currently reviewing the aspects contained in the letter from the Council and will respond in due course.”
And Cllr Simon Weeks, executive member for planning and enforcement, said that it would be some time before the CEMEX application would come before the council’s planning committee.
He said: “This application is unlikely to be determined by the Planning Committee this spring at the earliest.
“This means residents have the opportunity to comment on any additional information, as and when it is received by the applicant, before the application goes before the committee.”
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