On 28th February at Kendal County Hall, the DC&R Committee approved planning application 1/22/9005 by 8 votes to 5 and in so doing have sentenced local residents of Faugh, Heads Nook and How Mill to another ten years of daily disturbance from quarry lorries - dust and noise; vibrations inside people's homes from lorries passing by or quarry activities; increased danger to children and walkers/cyclists from accidents with quarry lorries on the narrow country lanes surrounding our villages; increased danger to local residents of silicosis from invisible airborne particulates emitted from a quarry which is clearly situated too close to residential areas; increased risk of longterm environmental pollution from thousands of tonnes of waste being dumped as infill inside the quarry.
In all, 92 individual objections were submitted against this application and only one in support and 260 people signed this petition in objection, yet the planning officer dismissed all these objections in his report to the Committee (downloadable from the planning portal) and failed to address some objection points completely.

The public gallery at County Hall was packed with residents from Faugh, Heads Nook & How Mill, who witnessed with outrage and disgust the planning officer misinform Councillors in his determination to push through this application, making statements such as "no consul-tees have objected" - incorrect - both Hayton and Wetheral Parish Council and our County Councillor strongly objected.

He dismissed all objections to do with the unsuitable road network lorries must use and dangers from invisible particulates to local residents as 'negligible'. He claimed there was no supporting evidence to suggest that residents living close to sand quarries are at increased risk from silicosis - incorrect - recent evidence the planning officer chose to completely ignore exists from the US and Canada.

He dismissed all objections raising concerns of pollution to the local environment from the dumping of waste as 'infill' in the quarry on the basis that "only inert waste is allowed to be imported" yet he made no reference to the fact that the County Council have no monitoring systems in place to check imported material and the Environment Agency make one site visit a year if that.

The officer’s main justification for approving this application seemed to rest on Cumbria County Council’s estimated need for sand over the next seven years, yet he admitted that, if the estimated 240,000 tonnes of sand remaining at Esk Quarry were to be completely extracted over the next ten years, it would only make a “small contribution” to the seven year landbank.

The planning officer tried to convince the Committee that this application was restricting daily lorry movements by placing a cap of '30 in and 30 out per day' yet when questioned by a Councillor he admitted " it was hard or virtually impossible to monitor or control traffic movements". 

A local resident who spoke pointed out to the Committee that the figures do not add up - the yearly tonnage of sand and recycled aggregate the quarry is applying to export and waste it is applying to import does not need this many lorry movements. In effect, what residents will now see is a large increase in lorry movements through their villages, 'controlled' by conditions which cannot be monitored by a Council which refuses to enforce.

On several occasions during the meeting, local residents were so outraged at the planning officer’s statements that they shouted 'rubbish! rubbish!' 
Unfortunately, under planning law there is no right of appeal for third parties, the only route to challenging this decision is via judicial review in a High Court, which can cost thousands of pounds and the chances of winning are slim.

This petition will now be closed as it has served it's purpose.

Thankyou to everyone who took part in this campaign.