DESPITE a storm of opposition from villagers, Phil Shears, the Managing Director of Teignbridge District Council (TDC) has no objection "in principle" to an industrial scale landfill in protected countryside close to Whitestone village.

Teignbridge is a consultee to the plan, currently before Devon County Council, for the disposal of 350.000 cubic metres of inert soil waste at Lower Hare Farm in landscape designated by TDC as an Area of Great Landscape value (AGLV).

The plan is to import (500,000 - 700,000 tonnes) of "inert soils and topsoil for the raising of previously disturbed land that is not capable of sustaining commercial agriculture”.

The 2.1 hectares of "disturbed" land had previously been used as a tip and represents a small proportion of the 12 hectare site, according to documents lodged with the application and villagers are demanding that Teignbridge’s "No objection" decision is reversed.?The landfill plan has generated an unprecedented reaction with more than 200 letters of objection lodged with Devon County Council.

These include objections from private individuals and groups such as Campaign To Protect Rural England (CPRE).

Kit Malthouse, Minister of State for Housing, was also questioned about the principle of dumping waste in protected landscapes at a recent CPRE conference where the proposed Whitestone Landfill was discussed.

Objectors are incensed by the failure of Teignbridge to make a formal objection and to what they claim is the "flawed, superficial and inadequate nature of the District Council’s response".

They are calling for Phil Shears’s decision to be reversed but in a letter to objectors, the MD of Teignbridge stated "there is no in principle objection to the landfill if appropriately conditioned to minimise disruption and impacts on local amenity during the works."

STAWL (Stop A Second Whitestone Landfill), a group of concerned villagers opposed to the Landfill plans, claim "this is an application for a landfill site masquerading as agricultural improvement.

"We are not alone, Natural England also considered this to be an application for spoil disposal and questions the agriculture rationale,” says STAWL.

The proposed site is a few hundred metres upwind of Whitestone Parish Hall and children’s play park where the Parish Council has recently voted a large sum for improvement.

Objectors are incensed and perplexed that Teignbridge District Council is apparently unwilling to protect landscapes that are designated AGLV in its own planning documents.

"If passed, the application, will drive a coach and horses through the high minded sentiments expressed in the Teignbridge District Plan which is supposed to afford significant protection to such areas (AGLV’s),” said a STAWL spokesman.

"If consent is granted for this industrial scale landfill it will create a precedent for other rural landfills and will be open season on any other valley in this beautiful part of Devon within easy reach of an access road," he added.

In the Application the proposed duration of the landfill is stated as 10 years although other documents submitted by the Applicant’s Agent refer to a possible 15-year life span.

TDC’s submission refers several times to "restoration" and "temporary in nature" suggesting a project of limited duration, objectors point out, yet "the plan is to fundamentally change the contours of the land at Lower Hare Farm".

"An eight-year-old living in Whitestone could reasonably expect to achieve adulthood before this landfill is completed and many of the over 70’s living in the village will suffer the impact and effect of this landfill for the rest of their lives.

"In addition, TDC’s response to the application fails to properly address key areas such as the impact of extra HGV traffic on the C50, a road with on-going subsidence problems and a history of road traffic accidents.

"It also fails to address air quality issues such as fine dust particulates, a major concern for asthma sufferers and young children using the play park."

Teignbridge has "beefed up" its submission to Devon County Council under pressure from some District Councillors fighting on behalf of villagers but the council’s response remains "totally inadequate" according to STAWL.