Noise Pollution: The Quarry That Never Sleeps
Thirty extra lorries a day, diggers and bulldozers from dawn to dusk, for five decades
Imagine waking at dawn to the grind of diesel engines and ending the day with the roar of trucks reversing. This is the reality Sibelco’s expansion would impose on Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot.
Their own planning documents admit to around 27 new HGV trips per day – each one a heavy lorry labouring in and out of the pit. Add bulldozers, diggers, conveyors, and stockpiling machinery, all running six days a week, 12 hours a day, and the tranquillity of our community will be gone.
How Noise Pollution Harms Health
Noise isn’t just a nuisance – it damages health:
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Sleep disturbance: Chronic disruption raises stress hormones and impairs concentration.
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Mental health: Prolonged industrial noise is linked to anxiety, depression, and reduced quality of life.
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Cardiovascular disease: Medical studies link long-term noise exposure to hypertension, heart attacks, and strokes.
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Children’s learning: Studies show environmental noise impairs reading comprehension, memory, and school performance.
This is not just theory. Quarry campaigns across the UK (such as at Bengeo and Straitgate) have highlighted noise pollution as a material planning harm, and councils have refused applications on this ground.
The Policy Context
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Teignbridge Local Plan Policy S2 (Quality Development): Requires developments not to harm the amenity of existing communities.
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Devon Minerals Plan Policy M6: Explicitly demands that noise from clay operations be minimised and mitigated for local residents.
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National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF): States development should create “a high standard of amenity for existing and future users” – constant quarry noise fails this test.
With homes just hundreds of metres from the site, effective mitigation is practically impossible. Acoustic bunds and working-hour restrictions can only go so far. Over 40 years of quarrying, the peace will be irretrievably lost.
Our Campaign Levers
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Independent noise assessment: Commission an expert to measure baseline noise and predict cumulative impacts.
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Enforcement weaknesses: Highlight that “mitigation” over 40 years cannot realistically be enforced – once the pit is approved, residents are trapped.
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Health harms: Link noise to NHS-recognised risks: stress, sleep deprivation, cardiovascular illness.
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Legal hooks: Emphasise conflict with Policy S2, Devon Policy M6, and NPPF amenity protections.
The Bottom Line
Noise pollution isn’t just background hum. It will reshape life here – making gardens unusable, robbing children of quiet to study, and eroding the mental health of whole streets.
Thirty extra lorries a day, diggers and bulldozers from dawn to dusk, for four decades. That is not “development” – it is destruction of community peace.
The council must refuse this application on noise grounds alone.
