Chilton Quarry...still in the County's Plan

I was sorry to see on my return from holiday that, despite the efforts of our County Councillor, Colin Spence, Suffolk County Council appear to have missed an opportunity to remove the Chilton site from their Minerals Plan.
I know that Colin has consistently over recent years argued for the site to be excluded. His first attempt, a year or so ago, was thwarted because at the time of the debate the site was subject to a live planning application. This meant that the site could not be removed.
It was to be hoped that this time round, when two attempts by Brett Aggregates to get planning permission to open the site have failed for very good reasons, common sense might be allowed to prevail. Sadly, despite what was by all accounts an impassioned and cogent representation from Colin, technicalities won out over reason.
The plan as a whole was recently declared ‘sound’ by a Government Inspector. As a result it appears that removal of the Chilton site from the Plan at this stage could be challenged legally and result in the document being called in by the Secretary of State.
At first sight this seems rather hard to believe. It is another example of how we are bounded by so many rules that we live in a kafkaesque world where the coils of bureaucracy render action impossible. Moreover it demonstrates yet again that, despite lip service being paid to local democracy,central government exercises far too much control over local government bodies.
Or perhaps the County Council is choosing to hide behind these rules because, despite the obvious dangers to the public that a quarry on this site would involve, it is reluctant to give up the potential profit that will accrue from the development.
I’m not really clever enough to judge, but Colin did get quite a good level of support for his cause from across the political spectrum. It seems that there are at least some County Councillors who understand when a development is appropriate and when it is not.