The Environment Agency has launched its final consultation today on a permit application to open a landfill site at Lower Hare Farm in Whitestone near Exeter.
GRS Stone Supplies Ltd needs an environmental permit from the Environment Agency to operate the proposed site. 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.
Two previous consultations by the Environment Agency received a good deal of interest, resulting in the site being declared as one of "High Public Interest".
An environmental permit sets the conditions which GRS Stone Supplies Ltd must meet when operating the landfill site. It 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. Partner organisations, including the UK Health Security Agency, are consulted as part of the process.
Issues such as suitability of the site, operating hours and traffic management to and from it, are matters for the planning authority, not the Environment Agency. 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, all the comments received will be reviewed before a final decision is made. GRS Stone Supplies Ltd has the right to appeal if the permit is refused. The company will need to have both an environmental permit and planning permission in order to operate a landfill site.
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
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