Heidelberg Materials Cement – our plans to divert Empingham Road

Background

In 2002 Castle Cement obtained planning permission for an extension to Grange Top quarry at Ketton to secure the long-term future of the adjoining works. The permission included the diversion of part of Empingham Road to allow access to the maximum quantity of limestone.

A “stopping-up” order to authorise the closure of the section of road to be diverted was applied for in January 2016.  This application was considered at a public inquiry in December 2016 and the inspector’s report was sent to the Secretary of State for Transport in February this year.

In March 2017, the Secretary of State, having considered the report, decided not to make the order.

Heidelberg Materials challenged the decision, saying the report was unlawful. The Secretary of State subsequently agreed, and his decision was quashed in July 2017. The stopping-up application – including an additional highway improvement for passing places in Green Lane - will now be reconsidered at a new public inquiry from May 1 to 4. We have called this Order Scheme 1.

The new applications

A decision on Order Scheme 1 may not be made until late 2018. If it is turned down, there would not be enough time for us to design an alternative scheme and obtain the necessary permissions before reserves of limestone run out.

As a result, an alternative diversion of Empingham Road (called Order Scheme 2), which takes into account some of the views expressed at the December 2016 inquiry, has been drawn up and submitted to the Department for Transport as part of a separate stopping-up application. This will also be considered at the public inquiry in May.

This alternative route and the consequential changes to the quarry development required a new planning consent, so at the same time two planning applications were submitted to Rutland County Council. A resolution to grant planning permission was made on January 16 subject to certain conditions and the planning application was subsequently granted.

The outcome of the public inquiry will determine which proposal we follow to develop the quarry.

For further information please contact our agent Ian Briggs, Landesign Planning and Landscape Limited, Beacon House, 10 Forest Road, Loughborough, LE11 3NP email: ian@landesignuk.com, or email enquiries@hanson.com.