Firm to challenge quarry ruling
A QUARRY company yesterday confirmed it is to challenge the rejection of controversial plans to extract sand and gravel from land close to a 5,000-year-old monument site.
Tarmac Northern employs 15 full-time workers at Nosterfield quarry, between Bedale and Ripon, in North Yorkshire, where supplies are expected to be exhausted within the next two years.
It sought planning consent to extract 2.2m tonnes over four years from 112 acres at nearby Ladybridge Farm, half a mile from the nearest of three Neolithic earthwork henges outside the village of Thornborough.
The henges have been described as the Stonehenge of the North.
The site represents a scheduled ancient monument with legal protection, but campaigners who bombarded North Yorkshire County Council with protests insisted that its immediate surroundings, including Ladybridge, must be saved from the effects of more quarrying.
In February, the application was rejected by six votes to three by the county council's planning committee.
Tarmac, which warned that the decision could lead to job losses, said yesterday it will appeal and seek a public inquiry, but a spokesman indicated that this was still not the end of the story.
Bob Nicholson, Tarmac estates manager for the area, said: "We are anxious to safeguard employment and maintain supply from the quarry to the construction industry.
"We are also discussing the possibility of a revised application for a smaller extraction area at Ladybridge, avoiding areas which were the subject of archaeological concern.
"Nosterfield is recognised as being a well-run quarry, close to the A1 for transport purposes, with a good record of co-operating with the community and with the various archaelogical, environmental and wildlife protection agencies.
We hope to achieve a fair balance taking account of all interests, including continuity of employment and supply of construction materials."
Alwyn Shaw, head of minerals at the county council, said no revised planning application had been received.
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