News

Sand and gravel quarry plans in Rushcliffe village move forward to county council

By Latifa Yedroudj, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

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There are fears a planned sand and gravel quarry in Rushcliffe will damage local ecology beyond repair if it goes ahead.

Land Logical has applied to build a mineral extraction site on land off Green Street, Mill Hill and land at Barton in Fabis off Chestnut Lane in March 2024.

Plans would see sand and gravel removed from the land, which will then be processed, sold and distributed.

The plans have already received 185 objections from residents following a public consultation.

They raised concerns over the proximity of the site to residential areas, and also brought up issues of noise and air quality.

The plans were discussed at Ruschliffe Borough Council’s planning committee on Thursday, May 15.

Several councillors and residents at Rushcliffe Borough Council’s planning committee raised concerns and objections to the plans.

However, officers told councillors that Nottinghamshire County Council will have the final say on the plans – and the local Rushcliffe council can only list their recommendations.

Cllr Debbie Mason asked in the meeting: “If we say no completely to what’s before us, it’s not our decision.

“If the county go ahead and say ‘yes’, how can we be assured that all these things [our recommendations] are being looked at?

“It’s not going to be our decision – it won’t make much difference whether we support it or not. In the end the county council will make the decision.

“If we object, what happens to all the work being done here?”

Planning manager Andrew Cullen said the local council can still add their recommendations, but the county council will be the authority to determine whether the application finally goes through or not.

He said in the meeting: “We can object, we can still maintain all of this information in our recommendation and send this across to the county council.

“But the county council will still be able to determine the application as they see fit subject to material planning considerations.”

Cllr Richard Butler (Con), Chair of the Planning Committee, said the council can list their observations which would form “part of the response for the county council to make their final decision”.

Several councillors raised concerns over the proposed plans.

Cllr Carys Thomas (Leake Ind) said the impact on wildlife was one of her primary concerns, along with pollution and dust that could affect nearby housing developments.

She said in the meeting: “My particular concern is ecology.

“The landscape, particularly at the bottom of the hill, there are shallow pools and specialised habitat very dependent on water levels.

“There is no chance at all that habitat will be re-created once it’s been dug out.

“Managing the water levels and what habitats you create is an issue here.

“Birds feeding wet lands across the river need meadow land for their existence.”

“It’s an ecology issue – and that hasn’t been satisfied.”

Under the proposed plans, the sand and gravel quarry will span approximately 210 acres.

There will be footpaths and roads built to make the site more accessible for vehicles and traffic as works take place.

Infrastructure will also be built to help in restoring agricultural and nature conservation areas, documents say.

The development would be carried out in five phases – and the last phase would restore the land to encourage biodiversity again.

This would include the creation of waterbodies, reedbed and wetland, scrub, meadow, and species-rich grassland to enhance habitats at the site.

The quarry plans are to extract a total of 2.55 million tonnes of product over 12 years of operation.