AGENDA ITEM NO. 4

REPORT TO: / Planning Committee
REPORT NO. / CPLO/79/05
DATE: / 5 December 2005
REPORTING OFFICER: / Chief Planning Officer
CONTACT OFFICER: / Bob Dewey (Ext 2470)
SUBJECT: / Borras Quarry
WARD: / Holt and Gresford (East and West)

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

To consider the report of the Chief Planning Officer in respect of a proposal to extend Borras Quarry.

INFORMATION

Contained in the report which follows (see attached).

RECOMMENDATION

To determine the planning application in accordance with the recommendation.

BACKGROUND PAPERS

Planning File P/2003/0579.


THE SITE

Plan No 1 Location Plan

The application site comprises:

The Borras Airfield sand and gravel pit, which has been in operation since 1975. The pit lies between the A5156 Llanypwll Link Road to the south-west, Borras Road to the west and north, Borras Hall Lane to the east and the A534 Holt Road to the south. At its closest approach the pit lies some 250 metres to the north-east of the housing development on the north-eastern outskirts of Wrexham.

The pit extends to some 99 ha; most of which has been excavated or is occupied by the processing plant, stockpiles, lagoons, site offices and the haulage roads. Several independent non-excavation uses also occupy land within the Airfield site, these include: a concrete blockworks, a sand and gravel bagging plant, offices and St Christopher’s Eco-centre. Access to the site is from the A534 Holt Road.

There are isolated residential properties along Borras Road to the west and north of the Airfield and a group of properties along Barkers Lane to the north-west. The offices of the Groundwork Trust adjoin the north-western corner of the site. There are isolated residential properties along Borras Hall Lane to the east of the pit and across the A534 to the south, at Llanypwll. A public house, the Gredington Arms lies some 100 metres to the west of the site access.

The Airfield pit is part of the Borras Quarry complex, which is made up of the Airfield itself and its satellite workings of: Borras Farm to the west (now restored to agriculture); Borras Hall Farm to the north-east (now restored to agriculture); and Caia Farm to the north-west, which is still active and is progressively being restored to agriculture.

The Holt Estate; this is agricultural land in use for grazing, extending to some 74 ha, and lying between the Caia Farm working to the west, Borras Road to the south, and Hoseley Lane to the east. There are residential properties adjoining the southern boundary of the Holt Estate, along Borras Road. To the north of the Holt Estate are two isolated residential properties and agricultural land. The Holt Estate land is characterised by small fields, bounded by hedgerows with some hedgerow trees. About 50 ha of the Estate is agricultural land Grades 2 and 3a, classed as ‘best and most versatile agricultural land’. Deep and extensive surface hollows exist across the Estate and beyond. These are geomorphological features known as kettleholes and are relics of the last glaciation. Adjoining the Holt Estate to the north is the Vicarage Moss SSSI/Ramsar site, which has been designated both for its geomorphological interest as a kettlehole complex and for its botanical interest. Immediately to the south of Vicarage Moss is the wildlife site of Vicarage Gorse, designated mainly for its botanical interest as woodland.

The overall application site area is 173 ha.


Plan No 2 Application Site

PROPOSAL

The proposal as submitted in 2003 sought permission to continue extraction at Borras Quarry in two ways:

  • By selective deepening of the permitted sand and gravel workings at Borras Airfield, which currently has an extraction depth limit of 62m AOD (above Ordnance Datum) down to 43 metres AOD at its deepest
  • A lateral extension of the Quarry onto land at the Holt Estate, which would be worked in 6 phases

An Environmental Statement (ES) was submitted with the Application, following a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed development.

After submission of the application further consultations took place, which led to a number of issues being raised about the proposed development. Careful consideration was given to these issues and, as a result, amendments have been made to the proposed development. A Supplementary Statement was submitted to the Council in August 2005, detailing the amendments and providing additional information. The main changes that have been made to the proposed development are:

  • A significant reduction in the extraction boundaries at the Holt Estate, including the removal of extraction Phase H6
  • A reduction in the proposed working hours at the Holt Estate
  • Major improvements to the main Quarry access
  • Greater stand-offs to residential properties along Barkers Lane and Borras Road

As a result of these changes the extraction area has been reduced from 58.3 has to 43.4 has and a revised scheme of working and restoration phases submitted.

The deposits of sand and gravel in the area generally consist of a coarse grained upper layer, referred to as the Upper Sands and Gravels and a finer lower layer, referred to as the Lower Sands. The aggregate products manufactured by Tarmac depend on the correct balance of coarse and fine materials being supplied to the processing plant. Most of the Upper Sands and Gravel layer within the Airfield has now been worked out. The reserves of mineral within the Airfield are mostly of the finer material in the Lower Sand layer. The mineral within the Lower Sands layer is generally too fine grained to be used on its own for the manufacture of high quality aggregate products and requires blending with coarser sands and gravels. Without the coarser materials the working of the Lower Sands reserves is unlikely to be economic.

The original application proposed a comprehensive scheme for the working and blending of 22.8 million tonnes of sand and gravel from Borras Quarry and the Holt Estate. This comprised both planned (6.8 million tonnes) and unplanned (16.0 million tonnes) sand and gravel (planned is with permission and unplanned is without permission). As of 1st January 2003 the planned reserves at Borras Quarry were 6.8 million tonnes. 1.2 million tonnes have been worked in the intervening 2 years, leaving 5.6 million tonnes of planned sand and gravel as of 1st January 2005. The unplanned sand and gravel within the Application Site comprised 2 million tonnes in Borras Airfield (below 62m AOD) and 14 million tonnes in the Holt Estate. The reduction in the extraction boundaries now being proposed within the Holt Estate has reduced the sand and gravel resource from 14 million tonnes to 9.8 million tonnes, resulting in an overall reduction within the application site from 16 million tonnes to 11.8 million tonnes. The amended Application now proposes a total extractable reserve (both planned and unplanned) of 17.7 million tonnes, compared with the 22.8 million tonnes stated in the original Application.

The existing planning permissions contain additional reserves of about 1.8 million tonnes, which would be relinquished if permission for the extension were to be granted. The reasons for relinquishment of these reserves are that some would require working to take place below the local water table and some would require removal of substantial amounts of overburden materials. The reserve figures are based on information gathered in January 2003 and allowance will need to be made for depletion as reserves are worked at a rate of over 600,000 tonnes per year. The permitted reserves are within Caia Farm, which is likely to be worked out in late 2005, and within the Airfield. At current rates of output the coarse material at the Airfield is likely to be exhausted by 2009.

The proposed development envisages that current production levels at between 600,000 and 700,000 tonnes per year would be maintained until 2011. At that time, owing to closure of Tarmac quarries in Cheshire, production at Borras Quarry is expected to rise to 900,000 tonnes per year. The additional tonnage would be made up principally of fine sands.

A vehicular crossing point would be formed across Borras Road from the Airfield into the Holt Estate between Bank Croft and Moss Bank for plant access. A conveyor tunnel would be installed below the road crossing for transport of the excavated mineral from the Estate to the processing plant at the Airfield. All mineral haulage vehicles would use the existing access to the Airfield, off the A534 and there would be no use of Borras Road by HGV traffic.

It is now proposed to work the site in five Stages. The Stages are successive periods within which phased working and restoration will take place. The Airfield is divided into 4 phases and the Holt Estate is now divided into 5 phases (phase 6 has been deleted from the originally submitted phases). The phasing scheme has been designed to ensure that:

  • Extraction will at any one time take place either in the Holt Estate or the Airfield but not in both simultaneously and;
  • Throughout the lifetime of the development, the correct proportions of coarse and fine sands and gravels are delivered to the processing plant in the Airfield for the manufacture of a range of high quality aggregate products.

It is intended to complete the working and restoration of the Caia Farm site prior to commencement of work in the Holt Estate (condition attached). The outline restoration scheme details the following:

  • Borras Airfield site to provide a country park for public access and to nature conservation after-uses.
  • The Holt Estate to be returned to agricultural land and nature conservation uses.

Until 2011, HGV traffic resulting from the development would remain at existing levels which average 214 heavy goods vehicles (HGV) movements in and out of the Borras Quarry access each day, which are associated with the Quarry operations. It is assumed that the increase in production from 2012 to 2124 (when the Quarry output is expected to reach its maximum) will result in an increase from 214 to a predicted 262 per day. It should be noted that this figure is taking account of the present hours of working for Borras Airfield to remain at finishing at 2200 hours.

There are other developments within the Airfield site which generate HGV and some light vehicle traffic. HGV arising from those developments amounts to about 86 incoming and 86 outgoing movements (172 movements in total) per day.

The present working hours and days at the Airfield are; Mondays to Fridays 0630 to 2200 hours and Saturdays 0630 hours to 1200 hours (but with provision to work till 1700 hours on 24 hours notice to the planning authority). Mineral extraction and the movement of haulage traffic close down at 1800 hours Mondays to Fridays and 1200 hours on Saturdays and the site operations after those hours are limited to the processing plant. It is proposed to retain these working days and hours for the lifetime of the development.

No changes to the original restoration proposals for the Airfield have been made. The Airfield restoration will be on the ‘Country Park’ concept, which will provide a network of footpaths and low key recreational facilities. Some changes have been made to the restoration proposals for the Holt Estate, as less of this part of the site will be affected by sand and gravel extraction. Phase H6 will not be worked and will remain as agricultural grazing land. The existing footpaths crossing Phase H6 will not now be affected and will remain on their current alignment. Minor changes have been made to the woodland and grassland creation proposals on the Holt Estate. Working and restoration of both the Airfield and the Holt Estate land would be progressive. However, as a working quarry, the Airfield could not be brought into use as a country park until working and restoration had been completed. It is estimated that the final stages of working would be completed in 2031.

The proposals fall within Schedule 1 of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 and the application was accompanied by an Environmental Statement. It included eight specialist reports dealing with Landscape and Visual Amenity, Ecology, Hydrology & Hydrogeology, Soils and Agriculture, Noise, Air Quality, Transport and Archaeology. The specialist consultants have revisited their assessments and have either revised or updated their reports in the light of the recent amendments to the proposed development. These revised reports were included in the Supplementary Statement. Following submission of the Supplementary Statement, the Welsh Assembly Government requested that a Non Technical Summary of the Supplementary Statement be prepared and submitted to the Council.

HISTORY

Planning permission for the working of sand and gravel at Borras Airfield was granted by the former Secretary of State for Wales in 1965 under reference 12/4903. Working commenced in the early 1970s and, since that time, over 15 planning permissions have been granted for a range of mineral related developments. The principal permissions are:

6/12353Erection of concrete block plant. Granted 18.03.86

6/11855Extension to Borras Airfield sand and gravel pit on land at Borras Farm. Granted 26.11.86.

6/17982Extension to Borras Airfield sand and gravel pit on land at Caia Farm. Granted 11.06.91.

6/17984Extension to Borras Airfield sand and gravel pit on land at Borras Hall Farm. Granted 17.07.90.

6/1916624 hour working at concrete block plant. Granted 24.07.91.

CB2180Review of Old Mineral Permission application; updating the conditions attached to planning permission 12/4903 to bring them to modern standards. Granted 30.07.91.

P/2001/1079Amendment to condition restricting working hours attached to permission CB2180. Granted 11.03.02.

P/2002/0969Amendment of condition 11 of CB2180 to allow importation of limestone fines for blending with sand and gravel. Granted 05.07.04.

In April 1995 the former Bodfari Sand and Gravel Co Ltd. submitted an application for the working of the Holt Estate. The Bodfari Sand and Gravel Co Ltd was at that time the owner of the Holt Estate land, having bought it from the former Clwyd County Council.

Members should note that the Wrexham County Borough Council, as successor authority to Clwyd County Council, has a financial interest in the working of sand and gravel from the Holt Estate land under the terms of the land purchase agreement between Clwyd County Council and Bodfari Sand and Gravel Co Ltd.

That proposal involved the working of the Holt Estate as a separate major sand and gravel pit with its own processing plant and vehicular access adjacent to the existing Borras Quarry complex, and was refused on 29/07/96 for reasons of:

  • Lack of immediate need for the release of new reserves on the scale proposed.
  • Release of a new site without justification of environmental benefit would be contrary to Policy MIN 12 of the Second Alteration of the Clwyd County Structure Plan.
  • The working of the site concurrently with the adjoining Borras Airfield complex would have an undesirable cumulative impact on the environment and character of the area.
  • The adverse effects and increased risks to highway users could not be justified in the absence of short term need to release additional sand and gravel reserves.

The application was made under reference 6/23376 and was re-numbered as CB0121 after local government reorganisation on 1 April 1996.

A second application was made by Bodfari Sand and Gravel Co Ltd in July 1997 under reference CB1441 for the working of the Holt Estate land. The company was acquired by Tilcon Ltd. prior to determination of the application, which was held in abeyance pending resolution of a series of changes in the ownership of the companies involved in both the Borras Quarry complex and the Holt Estate.

An application to extend the depth of working at Borras Airfield and Borras Hall Farm was made by Tarmac under reference CB3627 in August 1999 and was held in abeyance.

An application to extend the working life of Caia Farm was made by Tarmac under reference CB3628 in August 1999. This application was also held in abeyance.

The Borras Quarry complex, originally operated by the Alfred McAlpine group of companies, was acquired by Wimpey Minerals Ltd in 1995. The Tarmac Group bought Wimpey Minerals Ltd in 1997. Anglo-American plc acquired the Tarmac Group in 2000 and subsequently acquired the mineral interests of Tilcon Ltd, including the Holt Estate land.

The current application reference P/2003/0579 combines the deepening proposal for Borras Airfield and Borras Hall Farm and the proposals to work the Holt Estate land. The three outstanding applications, CB1441, CB3627 and CB3628 have been withdrawn.

DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The site is located outside of Wrexham Town and in the open countryside. UDP policies: PS2, GDP1 a) and EC4 (quality of development, landscape and natural environment), PS9 and MW1 (strategic provision of minerals), EC1 (green barrier), PS11, GDP1 h) and EC6 (ecology), GDP1 f) (noise, dust etc), GDP1 d), (highways), EC11 (archaeology), PS3 and EC2 (agricultural land), MW2 (future sand and gravel extraction), MW9 (safeguarding of mineral resources from sterilising development, and MW11 (buffer zones surrounding mineral sites).

National policy in respect of minerals is set out in Mineral Planning Policy Wales published (December 2000) and Minerals Technical Advice Note 1 - Aggregates (MTAN1) (March 2004). Other relevant guidance is contained in Planning Policy Wales (May 2002), TAN 5 - Nature Conservation and Planning (1996), TAN 6 - Agriculture and Rural Development (2000), TAN 11 Noise (1997) and TAN 18 Transport (1998).

CONSULTATIONS (Responses to revised proposals in italics)

Holt Community Council:No objection; would like to see strong conditions controlling noise and dust. Lighting at site entrance would need to be located so as to cause no inconvenience to the farm and bungalow. There is concern over the potential increase in HGV traffic.