Traffic caused by quarry plans dubbed ‘madness’

Plans for a 100-acre quarry – which will see up to 86 lorries a day using one of Ottery’s busiest roads – have been branded ‘sheer madness’.

Aggregate Industries (AI) held an exhibition last Wednesday to outline its latest proposals to extract sand and gravel from Straitgate Farm.

In its revised plans, the company proposes to send material from Straitgate to Hillhead Quarry, near Uffculme, instead of going to Blackhill Quarry, near Woodbury, for processing and distribution.

John Penny, south west estates manager for AI, said: “Effectively, we would have two or three campaigns per year, of five to seven weeks, and once we have finished that campaign, we would withdraw from the site and go back later in the year.”

AI proposes to extract around 1.5million tonnes over a period of 10 to 12 years and carry out a ‘maximum’ of 86 deliveries a day during a campaign that would take place between March and November.

District councillor Roger Giles, who represents Ottery, said: “I cannot understand why AI is going to such great lengths, and spending so much time and effort for so little reward - less than one million tonnes of sand and gravel. It makes no economic sense. Yet it will have an exceedingly damaging impact.

“The idea of heavy slow-moving lorries making a right turn across Ottery’s busiest road, which is full of fast-moving traffic, is sheer madness.”

A St Mary’s Park resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was concerned about the average number of movements in each campaign using one of the town’s busiest roads.