A CONTROVERSIAL plan to extend a quarry in West Devon was objected to by parish councillors at a meeting last week — much to the relief of most of the 80 or so residents that attended.

Burrator Parish Council’s planning committee considered an application to extend the working area of the existing active Yennadon Quarry in Dousland last Thursday. The application is the second submitted by the quarry after a similar application was refused last year.

Crowds of people attended the meeting to give their views to the council before the decision was made.

Dousland resident John Howells said he was angry at the lack of public consultation from the applicant and said that most of the support for the application came from outsiders and not from people who live in Dousland.

He said: ‘The previous planning meeting last year was attended by 40 residents who were against the proposal and to our amazement, the parish council voted in favour of the plans in complete contradiction to the views of its residents. Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) then thankfully rejected it — one of the reasons being because Dousland is a site of tranquility.

‘There was an agreement that any future application would have to have consultation with the public but there wasn’t.’

Mr Howells said the signs put up by DNPA were too high to be seen by most of the ‘ageing population’ of Dousland and that many did not have access to the internet. With no leaflets or letters given to residents, many were unaware of the plan.

He added: ‘For people who don’t know the area to come in and say there will be no impact is farcical.

‘If you or I have an extension we tend to think of a small conservatory — it’s not normally doubling the size of our house. This is not an extension, it’s a new quarry.

‘For people to say there is no environmental impact means they must live elsewhere and have no idea. This parish council must support the views of its parish. I beg you to listen to the residents and not the outsiders.’

Graham De Val echoed Mr Howells’ comments. He said: ‘We knew about the quarry when we moved to Dousland and it wasn’t a problem, but now the noise, the dust and the traffic wear on the roads is increasing all the time.

‘You have to be blind not to see the scar on the landscape when you’re coming in from Plymouth. It is the last quarry on Dartmoor for a reason — it’s out of time. Dartmoor is now about tourism and nobody comes to look at the quarry.’

A member of the public asked why the application was supported by the parish council last time. Cllr Keith Scrivener replied that the majority of people on the committee had changed since that time and said he couldn’t answer for those who had now left.

Dr Tom Greeves, chairman of the Dartmoor Society which is in support of the application, said he was not unfamiliar with this part of Dartmoor as he used to live in Yelverton. He said he appreciated that making decisions about the environment was a difficult task.

Dr Greeves said: ‘It is now 20 years since the DNPA decided to preserve its natural and cultural environment. Much of Dartmoor’s history is about industry. If you look at the whole history of Dartmoor you can see how the quarry fits into it.’

Dr Greeves also added that it was ‘imperative’ that local suppliers were used for local need.

After hearing the concerns of the residents, the councillors discussed their own views on the plan.

Cllr Stephen Hopson said: ‘As a non-resident I’m fairly agnostic on the existence of the quarry but I understand both arguments for and against the plan. As Dr Greeves said, localism is a good thing. But as a representative of the people, I would say we need to vote against this.’

Cllr Scrivener said: ‘In my mind this application is no different to the one in 2014.

‘I was shocked with the council’s decision then. This extension is too large and too damaging. It’s a no brainer.’

Cllr Bridget Cole was in disagreement. She said: ‘We have to have industry on Dartmoor and there is a strong argument for local employment. I propose we support it.’

Following a vote, the council chose to object to the application with three in favour of objection, one abstention and one against.

The application is due to come before Dartmoor National Park Authority’s planning committee for a final decision on October 14.