Context 154 - May 2018

C O N T E X T 1 5 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 8 19 LIME AND STONE Close to the commercial quarry and within the historic underground working area are the historic Beer Quarry show caves, dating back to Roman times. These are now a successful local tourist attraction.The cathedral authorities had approached the landowners and the operator of the caves to see if they would support a stand-alone application to extract a small amount of stone each year from one of the more recent working areas close to the cave entrance. The operators considered that this small-scale extrac- tion could add interest to the tours, which regularly take in the Roman workings and graffiti dating from medieval times to the first and second world wars, when the caves were used for secure storage. These caves are also roosts for a number of protected bat species, including greater and lesser horseshoe bats. The show caves are a designated special area of conservation and legally protected due to their bat roosts. As a result, the council had to carry out a habitats regulations assessment to establish whether there would be a significant effect on the protected species using the caves if planning permission were to be granted. The evidence for this was helpfully available because the bats are monitored on a regular basis by Exeter University, which advised the applicant on impact and mitigation.This advice was accepted by Natural England, which had been involved at pre-application stage and had given advice on the impacts that needed to be assessed. In addition to the cave operators and the landowner, the proposal was strongly supported by the East Devon AONB service as an example of a small-scale operation with undoubted local benefits for the historic environ- ment.The operators of the quarry caves and the cathedral considered that the extraction would be of reciprocal benefit: visitors to the cathedral should be encouraged to visit the quarry caves and vice versa. Given the overall level of policy and consultee support, it was also possible to grant permission for this applica- tion within a six-week period. Unfortunately, the 2014 permission has lapsed unimplemented. The cathedral authorities have explained that this was primarily due to health-and-safety concerns, and the associated cost of complying with mining regulations for underground working, which are the same regardless of the volume of extraction.The cathedral came to the conclusion that a readily available French stone could provide a practical and comparable alternative. The Dunscombe Manor Quarry permission enables the Exeter Cathedral authorities to repair the Grade I listed structure using appropriate local stone.The stone taken from the most recent extraction is currently being used in the cathedral’s restoration programme, including carving four new corbels: a poppy, the Exeter Chiefs Rugby Club emblem, an eagle owl and a crown.These have been added to the eastern end. It is encouraging that it is possible to enable small- scale schemes in environmentally sensitive areas. The willingness of all the agencies to engage in the process and carry out careful pre-application discussions, recog- nising the scale of the proposal, and being proportionate in their approach to the likely impacts, has led to a successful outcome. It is disappointing that only one of the schemes has been implemented but noteworthy that the Beer Caves project was not hampered in any way by planning legislation. The small scale of both proposals led to the conclusion through careful screening that an environmental impact assessment would not be required, which would have led to considerable additional expenditure on the part of the applicant and would probably have stopped both proposals from coming forward as applications. It is hoped that other such small-scale proposals can be brought forward to ensure the availability of local stones appropriate for conservation projects. ¹ English Heritage (2012) Strategic Stone Study: a building stone atlas of Devon 2 Devon County Council (2004) Devon County Minerals Local Plan, Adopted Plan: Part A 3 Department for Communities and Local Government (2006) Planning and Minerals: practice guide 4 Devon County Council (2014) Devon Minerals Plan , and Department for Communities and Local Government (2014) Planning Practice Guidance: Minerals The views of the authors are not necessarily those of Devon County Council. With thanks to Exeter Cathedral for supplying information. Emily Harper is a senior planning officer and Sue Penaluna a principal planning officer, both at Devon County Council. Medieval pick marks at the entrance of Dunscombe Manor Quarry (Photo: Emily Harper)