Oxfordshire County Council transport officials are not happy with Hills Quarry Products’ latest plans to mitigate lorry movements out of the proposed quarry site off Abingdon Road.
Transport Control Officer Geoffrey Arnold says he’s not been persuaded by the proposals and has lodged an objection stating that the traffic impact of the development would meet the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework) criteria of ‘severe harm’. It would justify refusal of planning permission. Mr Arnold says the hours proposed by Hills to restrict quarry traffic do not go far enough.
If approval was recommended he would require a condition to prohibit all vehicular traffic from entering or departing the site between 7.30-9.15am and 4.00-6.30pm, together with realistic and practical options for enforcement of the vehicle restriction, for him to remove his objection.
It was expected that the county council’s planning committee would discuss the latest proposals from Hills at a meeting in October but that has been delayed. The date of the next potential meeting is 10th December.
Giles Baxter, the spokesman for the protest group Bachport (Burcot & Clifton Hampden for the Protection of the River Thames) said: “We wait to hear what the council has to say on the other grounds for refusal, in particular, whether there is any justification for this development in the Green Belt and conflict with the safeguarded land for a new river crossing.”
