Success for Campaign: sand quarry in National Park on hold
Local green campaigners are today (22 September 2009) allowing themselves a cautious celebration at news that construction giant Tarmac have decided not to press on with a planning application for a huge new sand quarry near the villages of Kingsley and Oakhanger in East Hampshire.
The scheme, which has brought local residents and environmental groups, the South Downs Society and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, together in opposition, would have meant two million tonnes of sand being extracted from attractive farmland within the South Downs National Park over a 13 year period. But Tarmac have now written to Hampshire County Council saying they will not now submit their application - which was anticipated in the next week or two -- until they have had the time to work through just what being in the National Park means in planning terms.
Steve Ankers, Planning Officer for the South Downs Society, said "This proposal would have been an appalling precedent for the Downs and for all our National Parks. We know that Hampshire County Council is actually negotiating to try to reduce the levels of sand it's currently obliged to provide for, so it would have been a nonsense to allow a major new quarry in unspoilt countryside. The new South Downs National Park Authority will be responsible for all planning in the Park from 2011 so I'm pleased Tarmac haven't slipped their planning application in first!"
Said Terry Blake, spokesperson for the Save Our Local Countryside campaign group, "We've had to put up with Tarmac's industrial operations in our rural community for many years now. It was depressing to think we would have more years of heavy lorries trundling along our rural lanes, with attractive countryside on the edge of our village dug up, views from footpaths spoiled and all we'd be left with is another deep, water-filled pit. With nearly 100% support for the campaign amongst local residents, everybody will be delighted with this news".
John Venning, chairman of CPRE Hampshire, added "We hope this sand is never extracted. The fact that it is easy to get at makes it tempting for Tarmac but this is some of Hampshire's most lovely farmland and it is within the new National Park, which simply must not be sacrificed. We think the Minerals Plan should reflect this."