The Environment Agency has launched its third and final consultation today for operators to open a controversial landfill site just outside Exeter.

GRS Stone Supplies Ltd needs an environmental permit from the Environment Agency to run its proposed site at Lower Hare Farm in Whitestone.

Plans for the landfill were first put forward in December 2018 for a scheme that would see inert soils and top soil imported to the land over ten years.

However, a number of residents in Whitestone and nearby Tedburn St Mary have been vociferous in their opposition to the plans.

Devon County Council approved the landfill plans at the end of 2020, despite more than 500 objections to the proposals.

Devon County Council’s own landscape officer stating that the site is ‘considered unsuitable for an inert waste landfill operation as it is located on a prominent hillside in a valued rural landscape locally designed as an Area of Great Landscape Value’.

However, planning officers recommended the scheme for approval based on balancing the significant harm to the landscape and the visual impact against the need for a facility to maintain sufficient capacity for the disposal of inert waste materials within the Exeter area.

The two previous consultations by the Environment Agency received a lot of interest, resulting in the site being declared as one of ‘High Public Interest’.

‘The company has provided all the information needed and the Environment Agency is now likely to grant the permit unless new information gives a reason not to,’ the Environment Agency said.

The environmental permit outlines conditions that GRS Stone Supplies must adhere to when it operates the landfill site. The permit covers the management and operation of the site and the control and monitoring of emissions.

When the Environment Agency considers a permit application, it reviews the design of the proposed site, how it will be operated, the emissions it will generate (to air, water and land) and whether it will meet the required standards. The Environment Agency also consults partner organisations, such as the UK Health Security Agency.

However, the Environment Agency does not consider Issues like the suitability of the site, operating hours and traffic management. These matters are under the jurisdiction of the local planning authority.

The Environment Agency can only consider issues covered by the environmental permit and can only refuse a permit application based on technical information.

Once the consultation closes on March 10, the Environment Agency will review all the comments before making a final decision. GRS Stone Supplies will have the right to appeal if the permit is refused.

Anyone wishing to comment on the application, can do so by using the online consultation portal, Citizen Space: https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/psc/ex4-2hw-grs-stone-supplies-limited-epr-lb3502ht-a

The company needs to have both an environmental permit and planning permission to operate a landfill site.

GRS Stone Supplies provides construction aggregates, waste removal and muck away services for the building trade across south west England and south Wales.