Devon council moves to tackle concerns over quarry dust monitoring

Pressure over dust from quarries and its impact on residents has led to a pledge from Devon’s largest council to establish who should be monitoring it.

A series of questions from campaigners to Devon County Council revealed that no statutory body has explicit responsibility for routinely monitoring respirable crystalline silica, or RCS.

The county council, which decides planning applications linked to quarries, can put conditions in place requiring operators to monitor RCS, while residents who believe dust levels are causing health issues can report their concerns to their local environmental health teams within district councils.

But a motion put forward by Councillor Ed Hill (Independent, Pinhoe & Mincinglake) to ensure Devon establishes which statutory body is responsible for protecting residents outside mineral extraction sites from long-term exposure to RCS has been passed.

Cllr Hill said the key thrust of his motion came from an amendment that experienced some opposition but was eventually agreed by Devon’s full council chamber earlier this month, on Wednesday 2 September.

“I don’t trust the council to mark its own homework any more,” Cllr Hill said.

“We were being asked to accept that the existing regulatory framework adequately addresses the risk, yet [the council] has just confirmed that DCC holds no monitoring results specifically for RCS and that there is not a statutory body routinely monitoring it.”

Cllr Hill previously led a claim against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over allegations that a group of Marines were exposed to asbestos during a training exercise in Latvia.

The claimants recently settled out of court, but the MoD, which did not accept liability, said action had been taken to prevent similar issues in future.

It also said further use of non-MoD training sites had been prohibited and that its people’s health, safety and wellbeing would “always be our highest priority”.

It’s understood that monitoring of dust takes place at the Denistone and Broadway Ball Clay sites, but measurement is focused on the quantity of dust rather than its composition, something Cllr Hill said was fundamental to his motion.

“I am not claiming that residents are being exposed to dangerous levels of RCS,” he said.

“Nobody should make that claim without the evidence; my concern is almost the opposite – where is the evidence that allows us to confidently rule it out?”

Separately, information secured by Martin Wrigley MP (Liberal Democrat, Newton Abbot) showed that monitoring was undertaken at the Denistone and Broadway Ball Clay site at two locations, adjacent to Preston village and adjacent to Exeter Road.

Mr Wrigley said monitoring data he had seen “does not indicate dangerous levels of airborne particles and reports no risk to human health”, but acknowledged that the monitoring does not specify the composition of the dust.

The MP added that Sibelco, which operates the quarries, had advised him that it had strengthened dust control measures, including increased use of water bowsers to suppress dust and more intensive road sweeping.

The company had also committed to “improving communication with local residents through the publication of regular information and fact sheets”.

At the full council meeting, Holland Risley, a member of the Save Our Trees campaign group, again raised issues residents claimed to be experiencing as a result of their proximity to the Zitherixon quarry at Rackerhayes in Kingsteignton.

“My children cycle along Exeter Road to football and the swimming pool, and when the road is dry, passing lorries lift dust in a cloud, and there are other residents that live just metres away,” he said.

“It is filmed in 4K on our YouTube channel.”

Mr Risley stated that, even though planning permission for the quarry requires annual reporting of dust, he claimed the council had told him none had been submitted.

“Even the monitoring that does take place is built so it cannot see the problem,” he said.

“The operator has proposed monitoring by visual observation, but RCS is too fine to see.”

Mr Risley added that ball clay consists of 30 per cent quartz and that silica was a Group 1 carcinogen, but that Devon had confirmed to him that “no quarry in Devon monitors it”.

A question from Kelly Pearce sought to ascertain whether a statutory body could be asked to independently monitor RCS at her home.

In a written response, Councillor Caroline Leaver (Liberal Democrat, Barnstaple South) said there was “not a statutory body that routinely monitors RCS”.

“Dust is considered by Devon County Council in the assessment of planning applications for mineral working,” Cllr Leaver added.

“Silica can be found along with other dusts, and as such it can be controlled through conditions in any planning permission for dust monitoring.

“Where required, monitoring would consider PM10 (any airborne particle with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 microns (µm) or less), which includes RCS, rather than directly monitoring RCS.

“This approach is consistent with standard practice for assessing and managing dust impacts from mineral operations.”

Sibelco, which runs the Zitherixon quarry, did not respond to a request for comment.