Appeal over controversial Hampshire airfield quarry plans pushed back
Developers want to extract 250,000 tonnes of sand and gravel a year
A hugely controversial plan to turn a Hampshire airfield into a quarry now won’t be decided until the summer as the appeal has been pushed back.
Hampshire County Council said it had been told that by the end of May, the Planning Inspectorate would have a decision about the Hamble airfield appeal presented by Cemex.
However, the county council’s senior planning officer, Lisa Kirby-Hawkes, said that the Hamble quarry appeal has extended in time and, therefore, the inquiry inquiry will be split between April and the summer.
Mrs Kirby-Hawkes said: “Since that day was given to us, the inquiry has been extended in terms of its time scale, so we anticipate the date won’t be met.
“We are looking at potentially splitting the hearing with dates in June at the moment.”
While Hampshire County Council refused Cemex’s planning application to extract 250,000 tons of sand and gravel a year at Hamble Airfield, the firm appealed the decision.
In total, there were 5,744 written objections sent to council planners, with the main concerns raised being flooding, noise and air pollution and the effect of traffic on Hamble’s road network. There was also a protest from students at The Hamble School.
Hampshire County Council has now confirmed that the first round of hearings will occur from April 1 to April 4, 2025, with remaining public inquiry dates still to be confirmed by the Planning Inspectorate.
To fight against the Cemex appeal, the Hamble Peninsular Residents Group (HPRG) set up a fundraising appeal to seek funds to employ a legal team and specialist consultants representing the village to prepare the case to present at the appeal inquiry.
HPRG, alongside the Hamble parish council, joined and created the Hamble Peninsular Defence Group (HPDG).
On Facebook, HPDG said: “We received nearly 700 responses – an amazing effort that provided real insight into how you use this valuable local resource, and where you would go if it were no longer available. We have fed the data to our legal team, who will take it forward at the inquiry.
“A huge amount of free time is being volunteered by individuals in HPRG to ensure the legal team and consultants have all the data and documents they need to make a strong case.”
The group said that those who want to contribute can do so through running a fundraising event or donating and sharing the GoFundMe page.
Cemex previously said it was “confident the site can be operated without any significant adverse effects”.