Wednesday 26 February 2020

MP says quarry plans should be blocked

From time to time, people try to do big, horrible things to their local neighbourhood.
The big, horrible thing being done to us is to dig a 105-acre hole in the ground, spend years digging out sand and gravel, then fill it in again.
Of course, this could easily be about Aggregate Industries' plans for a 105 acre hole in East Devon. But in this case, it's about plans for another hole – at Lea Castle Farm, between Wolverley and Cookley in Worcestershire – and the words of the MP for Wyre Forest:
Whilst there are significant rules governing dust emissions from quarries, can the operators really guarantee that there will never be occasions of significant dust? And will residents be victims of noise pollution?
In a previous political career, I worked for some people whose lives had been blighted by the endless crash of heavy machinery extracting tonnes of gravel each day.They were miserable, especially in the summer, when they couldn’t enjoy their gardens.
Meanwhile, the roads around the site will be subject to heavy lorries, firstly bringing in plant and machinery, then taking away the extractions.
Whilst it may be fine by the standards of the county council highways department, the endless grind of being stuck behind a heavy, noisy, dirty lorry wears out the patience of locals.
So I am helping the local campaign group to stop this proposal, submitting my own thoughts on why it should be blocked, suggesting reasons why Lea Castle is a bad idea.

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