QUARRY campaigner Philip Edwards is encouraging villagers to attend a hearing into controversial plans for Norley.

Mr Edwards is a member of Stop The Tip, a group set up by villagers to fight plans to carry out major restoration work and excavate a new area of sand at Town Farm Quarry in Norley.

The group says approval for the plans would result in thousands of tipper truck movements through Acton Bridge, Kingsley, Crowton and Weaverham.

The Planning Inspectorate at Bristol is to rule on appeals by The Starkey Family Trust against the non-determination by Cheshire West and Chester Council of applications in relation to the quarry.

The applications which are subject of the appeals seek to vary conditions of a planning approval to allow for the extraction of remaining permitted mineral reserves and to amend restoration levels accordingly, and to allow more time and the importation of material to complete the restoration of the site.

Mr Edwards contacted the Guardian to ensure residents are aware the appeals will now be dealt with at a hearing at Winsford on Tuesday, October 13.

“Earlier this year the planning inspector decided the appeals would be decided by written representations only,” said Mr Edwards.

“The inspector has now decided a local hearing should be held in order that residents’ views should be taken into account.”

The hearing is at Cheshire West and Chester Council’s offices at The Drumber. Residents wishing to attend should arrive by 9.30am, and the hearing is expected to last a full day.

“Of particular concern is that residents who have made representations about the appeal should have been notified about the hearing, but we are aware many have not been notified as they should have been,” added Mr Edwards.

“Another matter of considerable concern is that documents the residents were entitled to see as long ago as May 2015 have not been published by CWAC on their website.

“The existence of one these documents has only recently been discovered when it was referred to in a recently-published document.

“These omissions and irregularities have eroded the confidence of residents in the way in which information has been disseminated. The lack of access to this vital information has put the residents’ case at a severe disadvantage.”

Cheshire West principal planning officer Rob Charnley emailed Mr Edwards in response to his concerns.

He said: “I will ask our admin team to investigate with regards to the information being held on the website.

“I will ask them to check what has been submitted against what is displayed on the website to ensure all the documentation is correctly displayed. I am also looking to add the information in relation to the independent site survey to the website on Monday [September 28].

“In terms of notification of the appeal I know the residents on the attached list have been notified. I will again ask our admin section to check this list against the representations submitted to the Inspectorate to ensure any additional neighbours are notified immediately.”