Planning Consent for Aggregates Recovery Facility

We are pleased to share that we have secured planning permission for an Aggregates Recovery Facility at Forest Wood Quarry, Pontyclun, on behalf of Aggregates Express Quarry Products Ltd, part of the Ryan Jones Group.

This marks the conclusion of a lengthy planning process involving detailed technical assessments, extensive dialogue with both Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Vale of Glamorgan County Borough Councils, and significant engagement with a wide range of other stakeholders.

Given the relatively innocuous nature of the proposal, and being located on an operating quarry, this development attracted greater community interest than might usually be expected, with social media speculation stoking public concern. In the interest of transparency, and at the request of the LPAs, we prepared and submitted supplementary technical information well beyond typical requirements to address noise, transport, air quality, visual impact, quarry reserves and ecology considerations, and demonstrating that there would be no unacceptable impacts from the development.

Following an unsuccessful call in request to the Welsh Ministers and a subsequent resolution to approve the application at planning committee subject to a Section 106 agreement, the development was challenged by the local residents’ action group through Judicial Review, which was refused, and the subsequent appeal of that decision was also dismissed.

We are of course, very pleased with this result, which confirms both the appropriate location of the development and robustness of the technical evidence, and further demonstrates our ability to deliver complex and potentially contentious developments to achieve successful outcomes for clients.