The Building Conservation Directory 2022

36 T H E B U I L D I N G C O N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C T O R Y 2 0 2 2 C AT H E D R A L C O MM U N I C AT I O N S detailed published advice is widely available on understanding, assessing and repairing stone slate roofing, including Collyweston roofs specifically. From the council’s online planning records it would appear that during the assessment and determination of this application, no consideration was ever given to how such published expert advice might be successfully applied in this case. Furthermore, the approval did not provide for salvaging any of the original for re-use, despite the rarity of the roofing material. REOPENING A QUARRY FOR REPAIRS AT EXETER CATHEDRAL This case is a success story where a small quarry was reopened for repairs to Exeter Cathedral owing to the concerted efforts of the county council. Until the early 1990s, Salcombe sandstone needed for repairs to Exeter Cathedral was obtained from Duscombe Manor Quarry which was operated by the cathedral, but in 1994 quarrying ceased and the quarry was locked up when the planning permission lapsed. When more stone was needed for repairs, the cathedral approached Devon County Council in 2013 with a view to reopening the quarry. While small scale extraction of locally distinctive stone of this nature was supported by both the Devon Minerals Local Plan and by the NPPF and the Minerals Practice Guidance, several other considerations also applied. In particular, the quarry was located within an AONB and a coastal preservation area; it affected the setting of the Sidmouth to Beer Coast of special scientific interest and the Sidmouth to West Bay ‘special area of conservation’ – an international designation. It was also situated within a holiday caravan park, so issues of impact on the amenity and the business of the park had to be considered. In response, Devon County Council approached the AONB team, English Heritage and Natural England to seek their requirements for a planning application in 2013. As a result, it was possible to approve within six weeks from submission and allowed for the extraction of five cubic metres per year for 10 years, with conditions allowing for extraction only outside the caravan park’s main holiday season and minimum disturbance to bats and breeding birds. On starting the work Exeter Cathedral had to submit another application for a different area to the one that was approved, and an updated method of working. The change enabled a year’s extraction to be carried out in a single day and the stone to be stored at the cathedral. The permission granted until 2027 was issued within five weeks of the submission, and works have been running smoothly ever since. PORTLAND STONE EXTRACTION FROM A BROWNFIELD SITE By contrast, one recent planning decision at Portland Island in Dorset, (WP/19/00919) resulted in the loss of an opportunity to extract Portland stone from the brownfield site of the former Royal Manor School prior to its redevelopment for housing. NPPF paragraph 204 at the time (paragraph 210 in the 2021 review) provided the statutory basis for the determination of the application. It requires that planning policies should: c) safeguard mineral resources by defining Mineral Safeguarding Areas; and adopt appropriate policies so that known locations of specific minerals resources of local and national importance are not sterilised by non-mineral development where this should be avoided (while not creating a presumption that the resources defined will be worked) d) set out policies to encourage the prior extraction of minerals, where practical and environmentally feasible, if it is necessary for non-mineral development to take place. The local Mineral Safeguarding Area (MSA) was designated in 2014 and there are no local policies for the protection of minerals outside its boundary. Although the school lay outside the MSA, part of the site already had a significant mining history as an extension to the adjoining Jordan’s mine run by Albion Stone plc. The mine’s most recent consent had been granted in 2018 by Dorset County Council prior to its abolition in 2019. The consent had a time limit to the end of September 2021, allowing the extension of extraction within the site underneath one of the redundant buildings. This consent had been given despite the opposition of the site’s future developer. In response to the application to develop the site for housing, the mineral planning authority made the strongest possible case for extraction prior to redevelopment, but having been incorporated within the planning service earlier in the year, the MPA found that it was unable to make its argument heard by Dorset Council, the new unitary authority. The mine operator, Albion Stone plc confirmed its willingness to undertake the prior extraction of the stone within a three-year period. The applicant’s minerals consultant also suggested that in theory, safeguarding could take place outside a designated MSA if it became evident post-MSA designation that stone worthy of safeguarding existed beyond the MSA boundary, and this could be achieved by invoking national and local policies. Nevertheless, Dorset Council granted Dunscombe Manor Quarry which was successfully reopened for repairs at Exeter Cathedral (Photo: Emily Harper) Portland stone extraction is limited to the island of Portland: the mineral safeguarding area, in yellow, excludes the built areas, in grey, as at the time of its designation it was thought that a case for mining underneath brownfield sites would never arise.