We’ve lost count of the number of times we have seen stories like this, but for the residents around Lomond Quarry, near Leslie in Fife, who have been plagued for years by blasting and HGVs, the news must come as a terrible shock. The nearest house is just 55m away; Fife Council has received over 900 complaints. Residents were no doubt looking forward to the day when the quarry was worked out and restored.
Leslie residents may [now] have to wait until 2031 for the restoration of Lomond Quarry if amendments to existing planning conditions are approved.
Quarry owners Skene Group are understood to have applied for a variation on operational phasing and subsequent restoration programme which, if approved, would allow the developer a greater level of deeper blasting at the site and the potential for increased rock extraction.
If amendments are given the go-ahead, plans to carry out a phased restoration would start once work on all quarry phases is completed.
And if Aggregate Industries manages to get its foot in the door at Straitgate Farm, with one set of planning conditions, local people will no doubt fear the same thing as in Fife - extensions, modifications, applications for adjacent fields, one change of the planning 'goal-posts' after another...
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