Anxious Hamble villagers ready for one last fight over Cemex's final attempt to get airfield quarry open

The seven-day public inquiry will be split into two rounds, with the first hearings between April 1 and April 4 and the final inquiry days between June 24 and 26.

The Planning Ispectorate’s public inquiry comes as Cemex appeals against Hampshire County Council’s decision last May to deny the application for extracting 250,000 tons of sand and gravel annually at Hamble Airfield.

The application, which gathered 5,744 objections, was refused because lorry traffic would have an “unacceptable” impact on local roads and because Cemex had not demonstrated that air pollution would not impact protected habitats and species.

Emma Westmacott, chair of the Hamble Peninsular Residents Group, a campaigner group that has been fighting since the beginning against the quarry application, said the village had come together once again to defend the community.

Alongside the Hamble Parish Council, they have joined forces to form the Peninsula Defence Group to have legal representation and a place at the table with Cemex and Hampshire County Council in the appeal process.

In conversation, Ms Westmacott said that the community expects it to be a “tough day”.

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“It is a complex site. We’ve tried to do a pretty thorough case as far as we can.

“There is a lot of anticipation. I gather there are a lot of people wanting to speak, after all, over 5000 objections have been written. We are talking about big stakeholders and business, the people at the top of the chain want to turn up.

“I think the community itself is worn out by the whole thing. There is a lot of anxiety, but we feel pretty hopeful because we have done a lot of work. We just have to wait and see next week.”

The inspector has split the inquiry due to the high number of people wishing to speak (however, he has only allowed half a day for this) but also due to the issues raised by the Rule 6 party being more thorough than originally outlined by Hampshire County Council.

“It’s frustrating because everybody would like an answer to be given straight away. It is not split for any other reason rather than finding a suitable available time that works for all parties,” Ms Westmacott added.

“It’s annoying because it hangs over your head and loses a bit of continuity.”

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She said that over 500 letters have been sent to the inspector against the Cemex plan, and many residents will head to Winchester on Tuesday to show how the quarry in the centre of Hamble will impact them and how the site is a “wrong place and a totally unsuitable location for a quarry.”

Cemex previously said it was “confident the site can be operated without any significant adverse effects”.

The inquiry will take place at the Hampshire County Council headquarters in Winchester and start at 10am on Tuesday, April 1.

The council will livestream the inquiry on YouTube. Here, you can see day one.