Quarry meeting on 4th March with no Tarmac

Quarry proposals are bound to cause concern in the areas potentially affected and it’s important that the aggregates industry are open, honest and cooperative with people close by to potential sites.

As a back up to that the Strategic Planning Authority (the County) must make sure the public are fully aware of what’s going on and balance out, on behalf of communities, the almost limitless PR and resources that big industry have at their disposal. And it is big… there are hundreds of millions at stake with these proposals.

So, how’s it going with regards to the two big quarry proposals at Bucks Head Farm and Fisherwick in my County patch? Well as far as County making sure people know what’s happening not too good actually. And what about the quarry companies doing their best to gain the confidence of those communities affected? Well not really a gold star in that direction either.

Next door to the Cemex proposal at Bucks Head Farm is a disused quarry which should legally have been restored by the operators three years ago. The County enforcement people can’t seem to force the issue with either Cemex or Tarmac which are the two companies involved. It seems Staffordshire County Council say they don’t have the enforcement resources currently to make the companies meet their original planning obligations. I think that’s changing after intervention from me but the whole thing doesn’t lead me to think that enforcement is in safe hands or the industry will ‘police’ themselves.

Then there’s the Fisherwick proposal from Tarmac. Well, a few issues there too. County seem to have forgotten to notify the parish councils and local communities of Comberford and Elford even though they are greatly affected potentially. Because the proposal’s called Fisherwick they’ve completely forgotten the other areas involved.

And what about Tarmac winning the confidence of local people? It was going ok(ish) initially. The local Tarmac guys have been cooperative in the main. Yes, some issues but on the whole not too bad. But then the ‘big’ bosses from Anglo-American, Tarmac’s parent company got involved.

They’ve scuppered any thought of the local Tarmac reps actually talking to people at a pre-arranged public meeting in a few days time. It was going to be a chance for them to at least have a go at allaying some local fears. But when the big bosses heard they said ‘no way’.

So Tarmac won’t be there this Wednesday to talk about the Fisherwick proposal. But I will be and I suspect it will be pretty packed at the Whittington Bit End Pavillion. And just to top it off Tarmac have rebuffed my calls for them to reconsider their absence with a rather contradictary Press Statement…

TARMAC Statement

‘Staffordshire County Council asked quarrying companies to nominate sites to be considered for future extraction as part of the Staffordshire Mineral Development Framework. We identified a site near Fisherwick and sent detailed information to the County Council for them to use in their initial public consultation. The County Council is at the early stages of this planning process and we have already sent them the details they require for this meeting, so there’s nothing more we could add by attending. If, in future, we do consider submitting a planning application, then we’d of course consult closely with the local community. We are aware of the concerns of some local residents around the County Council’s Framework plans, and have already offered to show residents around one of our existing sites.’

Only a passing interest, really… nothing decided yet? With that in mind it’s jolly good of them to go the trouble of offering to show people around similar sites and even more considerate to produce a site specific, fully detailed 140 page ‘Site proposal’. What would have been more considerate is to attend as originally discussed and talk to those affected.

Tarmac’s strange position of, it might not happen or, we’ve not really decided, doesn’t stop people worrying or houses being potentially blighted. Perhaps they’d be considerate enough to remember that!

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