The Quarry Operators have now appealed against the planning enforcement notice issued by S. Gloucestershire Council to compel them to operate within their agreed operating hours. This means that that they now have three outstanding appeals: the two planning application refusals (coating plant and crusher time extensions) and also this enforcement notice.

The Planning Inspectorate, that organise the appeals, have now decided to lump together the three appeals as this saves the government money. It also allows them to optimise resources as the skills required are quite specialised.

The main disadvantage of combining the appeals is that the timescales are pushed out still further. Great if you are benefiting financially from the extended operating hours, not so good if you are affected by the resultant nuisance.

Another consequence of combining the appeals is that, because there is an enforcement element, the judgement will be in the form of an Inquiry rather than a Hearing. An Inquiry is a formal process, it is more akin to a court of law, where witnesses can be called and can be cross-examined under oath. An Inquiry makes the process more complicated for all parties.

A full formal timetable has yet to be made available. The timescales are likely to be:-

Based on these dates, and assuming no other changes, the current issues could be resolved by the time of their two-year anniversary!

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Cemex have appealed against the refusal of the planning applications to extend the operation hours of the Wickwar Quarry.

The Quarry Appeal process is under way. There are several different types of planning appeal. The one that has been chosen by Cemex and S.Glos Council is a “Hearing”.

This type of appeal has several different phases:

1. Questionnaire –Submission date 28^th Jan – A completed questionnaire and attachments submitted to the Inspectorate from S.Glos Council. This includes the background to the case. It also includes submissions of statements from the planning meetings and written consultations from the residents. (See Questionnaire .)
2. Statements and Representations – Submission date 25^th Feb – More comments and additions to those already made during the original Planning Consultation. Any interested party can comment. Submissions must be in triplicate. Request 'result of hearing' to be notified of the outcome. (See Important Contacts for Inspectorate address.)
3. Final Comments – Due date 17^th Mar – Last chance for Cemex or S.Glos. Council to submit additional information or comment on other peoples submissions.
4. Appeal Event – Date to be arranged – A public meeting where Cemex are able to state their case, then S.Glos Council have an opportunity to state the defence case and then there is an opportunity for anyone else who wants to comment.
5. Decision Date – Date to be arranged – Notification of the result. This can be up to 7 weeks after the hearing.

It is the responsibility of S.Glos. Officers (Environmental Health and Planning and Enforcement) to defend the rejection decision made by the Planning Committee.

Costs can be awarded at the end of the proceedings.

An appeal can only be challenged in the High Court, and only on either the grounds that due procedure was not followed or the inspectorate exceeded their powers.

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This is our understanding of the story so far...

22nd Feb 2007 – Cemex UK Ltd. Applied for planning permission to extend the planning restrictions:- operating times, extraction quantities, excavation area, etc.

11th Oct 2007 - S.Glos. Planning Committee rejected the two planning applications for time extension operation.

Cemex continued to breach.

7th Nov 2007 - S.Glos. Council serve a compliance notice on Cemex to cease operation. This gave them 28 days (until 4th Dec) to stop.

20th Nov 2007 - Cemex notified S.Glos. Council that they intend to appeal the planning decision.

5th Dec 2007 - Cemex continued to breach. Production increases. Portable crushers brought into quarry to supplement primary crusher. Lorries used to shift rock out of quarry as conveyor to shift rock to processing plant is unable to cope with quantity. Operation extends not only into the evenings but also on Sundays.

Cemex legal representatives complain to S.Glos. Council that the Compliance notice was unfair because it did not allow them to appeal it. S.Glos. Council legal representatives agreed with Cemex. S.Glos Council withdraw the Compliance notice.

Just before Christmas... S.Glos. issue an Enforcement Notice to Cemex. This differs from a Compliance Notice as Cemex can appeal it. The Enforcement Notice takes 28 days to take effect and then, on top if this, there is a 28 day compliance period. So... Cemex can therefore operate in breach until Feb 2008. They can operate longer than this if they appeal the Enforcement Notice and win the appeal.

…is this case is an example of the way in which the law fails to protect the ordinary citizen against powerful companies with highly paid legal teams?

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The proposal would have an unacceptable adverse impact upon residential and local amenity based upon the considerable evidence submitted by local residents of the harm caused by the unautherised extended hours of operation similar to that proposed. The application is therefore contrary to Policies 22, 24 and 27 of the South Gloucestershire Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

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The South Gloucestershire Planning Committee rejected the two Cemex planning applications to extend their operation hours (PT07/0577/RVC & PT07/0578/RVC) on 11 th October 2007. These decisions were based on the grounds of harm caused to residential amenity.

Following this decision, Cemex continued to breach their current planning restrictions.

They have been operating during anti-social hours early in the morning, late into the evening and even on Sunday mornings.

South Gloucestershire officers made unannounced site inspections and witnessed the Cemex Coating Plant operating outside of their permitted times.

On the 7^th November South Gloucestershire Council served a Breach of Condition Notice on the quarry operator Cemex. The notice takes immediate effect and requires compliance within 28 days (Tues 4^th December). This is the minimum compliance period under the legislation.

Following the end of this period further site inspections will take place to ensure compliance. If breaching continues then summary prosecution can be brought in the Magistrates’ court and fines can be imposed.

There is no right of appeal to the Secretary of State for the Environment against a Breach of Condition Notice.

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It is clear that it is necessary to make complaints about the Quarry to raise any issues to the attention of the S.Glos. Council. They do not run a system of actively monitoring operations in this area. 

Complaints about ENFORCEMENT of planning restrictions should be directed towards Mark Davies (S. Glos Council). The types of enforcement that should be considered are:-

•     Operating outside planning restriction hours (see table right),
•     Aggregate lorries using the entrance to the East of main road,
•     Unfulfilled 106 agreements.

Complaints about ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH should be directed towards Neil Higgs (S. Glos. Council). These issues include:-

•     Excessive noise,
•     Smells (especially tar-like smells)
•     Dust
•     Rocks, stones on road

Contact details for these council officers are on the right of this web page. They are obliged to get back to you within 48 hours of you reporting the issue. S.Glos policy is that enforcement action will be taken within 20 working days.

If you wish, you should also forward any complaints to Frank Hogg the Quarry Manager. He is obliged to log and respond to any complaints as part of Cemex's BS14001 compliance.

You can also copy WRAG ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) on any complaints so that they are logged and we can ascertain the extent of issues. If there are any problems with the complaints procedures then please let us know.

More information about the S.Glos Council enforcement guidelines can be found at: Planning Enforcement Concordat.  

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