Opponents of a proposal to extend a ragstone quarry into an area of Ancient Woodland are furious after a cabinet member went against the wishes of his advisory committee.

Members of the planning, infrastructure and economic development policy advisory committee told Maidstone council cabinet member Cllr Paul Cooper that he should withdraw an earlier letter that he had already sent to KCC giving qualified support for the inclusion of a 96-hectare expansion of Hermitage Quarry by Gallaghers Aggregates in their new draft Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

Instead, the committee told him, he should send a letter recording Maidstone’s total opposition to the extension.

Cllr Cooper, though he was in the room, followed this with a letter to the council adding to his original support.

In what has been described as “a slap in the face for democracy”, he subsequently wrote to KCC saying: “It is appropriate that I convey the strength of feeling (of the policy advisory committee) relating to the allocation of Hermitage Quarry, in addition to the letter which was sent on August 9.”

Cllr Cooper did not withdraw his earlier letter as requested.

Instead, he said: “The views from the policy advisory meeting are as follows:

“It has concerns that the proposed allocation lies within an area designated as a Local Wildlife Site and Ancient Woodland, meaning that the development will cause harm to biodiversity.

“While the national planning policy allows for exceptional circumstances, it is for the county council to demonstrate that there exists exceptional circumstance that would meet the policy requirement and will provide significant reassurances that there are exceptional circumstances.”

An exasperated Cllr Clive English, leader of the Lib Dem, group said: “What was the point?

“There was a large public turnout at our policy advisory committee with people concerned that Maidstone Borough Council was literally the only significant consultee to support the destruction of irreplaceable ancient woodland via the proposed quarry extension.

“After a well informed debate, the committee advised the cabinet member to withdraw his letter supporting the proposal and substitute a letter objecting on the grounds of the loss of irreplaceable ancient woodland.”

“This vote was not a partisan one, but was supported by members across party, including Conservatives.

“However, Cllr Cooper has still chosen to ignore the advice and reiterate his support for the proposal with some minor caveats.

“He seems to think one can simply replace ancient woodland after quarrying takes place. Sadly that is not the case, once the damage is done, it is done."

Cllr English said: “More generally, there is a worrying pattern emerging of the advisory committees taking considerable time to debate issues and make recommendations, only for the council’s cabinet to ignore them and to throw the committees' advice straight in the waste basket.

“We saw the same happen recently with the Cabinet decision not to fund works at Linton Crossroads.

“The cabinet system will not survive if this continues, as it was this arrogant refusal to listen to anyone else that brought it down in discredit in 2014.”

Three councillors have “called-in” Cllr Cooper’s decision.

Cllr Vanessa Jones (Ind), Cllr Tom Sams (Ind) and Cllr Stuart Jeffery (Green) have asked for the matter to be discussed again by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Cllr Jeffery said: “I can’t tell you how angry I am.

“Cllr Cooper has completely ignored both the committee and the public and continued with his caveated support for the quarry extension.

“Although that is his right under the council’s current constitution, it is a complete slap in the face for democracy.”

Cllr Cooper has been asked for comment.