Quarry proposals are staggering

Whilst at County Buildings today I saw the quarrying industry proposals for the next 15 years which have been submitted for consideration.

Lichfield Rural East has got several existing quarry sites and the documents I saw today proposed expansions to all of those and also new areas for extracting sand and gravel. Bearing in mind these are suggestions from the quarrying industry you’d expect them to be on the high side but the 150million tonnes they are citing is truly staggering.

Now this is the very early stages of a lengthy consultation process which the County will be undertaking… so no decisions anywhere near being made yet. Best estimates from the officials today suggest that John Wakefield, the Labour Cabinet Member responsible, will be making a decision in March 2009. With the County elections in May 2009 we will be pushing hard to have that date moved until after May so that whichever Party wins can make the decision. I suspect the view that Mr Wakefield takes will be rather different to the Conservative one.

But the important thing is for the public, particularly those people in rural areas affected, should have the chance to put their views forward. The 150million tonnes proposed by the industry is 50% more than current levels of mineral extraction in the county and Staffordshire provides 60% of all the quota for the West Midlands region.

I don’t believe for a moment the industry will get all it wants but I am concerned that Staffordshire County Council are seen as a soft touch when it comes to issues like this (and many others). This new 15 year minerals plan means a chance to keep the status quo or even reduce aggregates extraction in Staffordshire allowing the rest of the region to take more of a fair share.

That will take lobbying and lots of evidence and views from Staffordshire people. The formal consultation will start in the next few months and it is important people take part. As you can see from the photo the expansion of existing quarries and creation of new ones could have a devastating effect on our environment… great swathes of the countryside dug up.

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