Letter to Hampshire County Council: Minerals and Waste Planning Policy
As the Member of Parliament for North Dorset, covering Verwood which abuts your County boundary, I wish to resubmit my objection to the inclusion of the Purple Haze site in your Minerals and Waste Plan review. I attach for reference my original letter to you, dated 20th May 2021, alongside a copy of the letter sent to you by the Verwood Ward Councillors of 20th January 2023, which I endorse in full.
Whilst time has elapsed since this proposal last reared its head, I can find neither factual nor policy point which could lead me to any other conclusion that to the fact that it should be objected to and rejected. If the intention of the advocates for this site is to try, try and try again in the hope that objectors become bored, they are mistaken.
I have little or no doubt that some may be pinning hope on the decimation of environmental safeguards as the repeal of the EU Law Bill progresses through Parliament. Let me make two points on that. First, there is no appetite within Parliament for the wholesale revocation of current environmental protections, and second, until the Bill becomes an Act and the process of EU Law review is concluded, no weight or presumption can be given as to how that process will conclude.
Purple Haze represents, as it always has done, an unacceptable environmental risk and an adverse impact on local residents. As the materials are not of a grade suitable for housebuilding or construction, it appears to me, therefore, that the adverse impacts of their extraction can in no way be outweighed by any economic advantage to UK plc.
I would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of this, its registration as an objection and if you could keep me up to speed with developments.
