A re-submitted planning application by Hydraulic Lias Lime Ltd (Hl2) to Somerset County Council for planning permission to build a lime plant at Appledore Quarry, near Long Sutton, Somerset, has been rejected.

Hl2 first submitted their application to open the plant in what is currently a disused quarry last summer. In the face of considerable local opposition that application was rejected then on grounds of access to the site.

When a planning application is rejected because the access to a highway is considered dangerous the same application can be resubmitted with proposals for alternative access and the applicant might expect access to be the only matter reconsidered by the planning authority.

Mike Farey, the managing director of Hl2, was still waiting to receive a letter formally rejecting the application as we went to press to discover on what grounds it had been rejected.

Hl2\'s proposal is for the relatively small production of 25 tonnes of hydraulic lime mortar a day from the stone in the quarry.

Lime mortar production is more environmentally friendly than cement production because the lime is burnt at lower temperatures requiring less energy and when lime mortar cures it reabsorbes some of the CO2 created in its production.

It is ideal for use with stonework because it allows the migration of water through the fabric of a building, whereas hard cement traps moisture in the stone, which accelerates dcecay.

Currently, most hydraulic lime mortar is imported, much of it from France. Hl2 produce their existing lime mortars from the lias limestone of Tout Quarry in Somerset, but cannot produce enough to satisfy demand and have just started importing it from Socli in the south of France in order to keep customers satisfied.

Hl2 have also been refused planning permission to continue the production of lime mortar at Tout.

They have appealed against that decision and will appeal against the latest decision, reached in January, regarding Tout Quarry, says Farey. The appeals are due to be heard in May.

Opposition to the development at Appledore Quarry has been led, says Farey, by the landlord of a local public house that is called, ironically, Lime Kiln Inn.

Farey says the planning meeting at which his application was rejected had its peculiarities. The application was rejected by just one vote after a councillor who had pledged support for the project left the chamber. Farey believes that if the vote had been tied the chair\'s casting vote would have been in his favour.

Lime mortar is extensively used in the restoration of stone buildings and Hl2\'s planning application received the support of English Heritage.

However, it was opposed by English Nature, in spite of an environmental report that Hl2 had to pay £5,000 to have carried out and which said that if the quarry was not managed, its current ecosystem in which English nature were interested would be destroyed by brambles and willows within five years.