The duration of the campaign is anticipated to take some 3-4 months, but at this time of the year weather could play a part. The need may also arise to split the campaign in two - [i.e.] start extraction in the New Year for 6-8 weeks, then pull-out and complete at the earliest opportunity in May/June. This final phase will signal the completion of mineral extraction operations at Marshbroadmoor, following which the company will continue with its approved restoration scheme to bring the site back into a beneficial after-use.
Such a way of working - trucking as-dug material 7 miles to be processed at Blackhill Quarry - is, incredibly, still being considered by AI as an acceptable way to process any material it might win at Straitgate. This is despite DCC officers making it clear on numerous occasions that they would not support such a proposal, and despite concerns from Natural England. Transporting material from Marshbroadmoor will be for a matter of weeks. Transporting material from Straitgate would be for 10 years or more - 100 movements a day - almost 2 million HGV miles on the B3180. And the reason? For AI it's cheaper to drive 2 million miles than it is to reconstruct their plant closer to where it's needed. Such environmentally unsustainable and inconsiderate thinking - on road users, residents and the planet - plainly make these marketing statements from AI seem somewhat hollow:
