Thousands of lorry loads of material will be used at fishing hotspot in south Warwickshire

A rural fishing hotspot has been granted permission to bring in thousands of lorry loads of material to reduce the depths of its lakes despite objections.

Bishops Bowl Fishery, near Bishop’s Itchington, has been given the green light to use inert materials – solid, motionless materials that are not chemically or biologically reactive, such as construction waste – to cut the depth of some lakes by more than two thirds.

The idea is to create better habitats for fish, reduce the prospect of long-term erosion under the water and improve safety.

Objections centred around high volumes of lorries trundling through rural roads and villages, particularly Bishops Itchington, and that HGV drivers had used unsuitable routes during similar works over recent years.

To address these concerns, Warwickshire County Council has tightened the conditions around the permission, insisting that CCTV is installed to ensure that no more than 25 lorries leaving the former quarry head towards Bishops Itchington on any given day. It will also show whether conditions on sheets covering the material are being used as requested.

There will also be a ban on HGVs using unsuitable roads around or through the village of Harbury.

Councillor Caroline Phillips (Lab, Nuneaton Abbey) queried how proactive any preventative measures with planning officer Sally Panayi confirming it would be likely that complaints would need to come forward before the matter was looked at.

Cllr Phillips said: “At our previous meeting we talked about enforcements that were not enforceable, are we going to make sure they are?”

Ms Panayi replied: “The recommendation for CCTV this time is to ensure we can enforce and that we have some evidence when it comes to (no more than) 25 vehicles turning right and vehicles being sheeted.

“The condition is asking for a copy of the CCTV to be retained for three months. If we receive complaints from the site, we are able to ask for that evidence to judge the number of vehicles that are coming in, so it is not going to be monitored all the time but it allows us to see how many vehicles have come in.”

Cllr Phillips was not too keen on that. “If we are waiting for complaints, we have left it too late, haven’t we? It is people’s lives being disrupted," she said.

Ms Panayi said: “There will be a monitoring of this site as the three years goes on but it will come down to a need to be looking at that evidence.”

Applicant Shaun Smart later said he would be comfortable with no lorry movements on Saturdays as that is when the fishery is most active. That led to the potential for weekend lorry movements being removed.

A maximum of 50 lorry loads per day is permitted Monday to Friday between 7am and 6pm for three years from the date of commencement. Only 25 of lorries coming out of the site can then go back through Bishops Itchington with none on the back routes around Harbury.