Aggregate Industries’ Moorcroft Quarry generates more concerns

Aggregate Industries' Moorcroft Quarry in Plymstock near Plymouth has not only been causing its neighbours concerns about dust and the removal of trees – as we posted here and here – but also about disturbing vibrations. 

A concerned resident wrote to SAG last week about this ongoing issue: 

I am a nearby resident of the quarry and for the last two years have been experiencing vibration in my house, particularly during the early hours which disturbs my sleep, sometimes 4 – 5 times a night. I have contacted the manager and the area supervisor who has passed it on to their consultant at [redacted]. I have been speaking to the consultant for at least a year, providing a diary and descriptions etc. I’m totally disillusioned with him as I feel he is only trying to protect Aggregate Industries and isn’t interested in solving my problem. 

I believe that the stronger vibrations, which I generally feel between 5 & 6 am, emanate from the asphalt plant which is approximately two hundred metres from my house. Whilst other lighter vibrations are maybe caused by a water management system/pump. 

I contacted my local council this year, they investigated but couldn’t detect any actually noise so claim they can’t do anymore. Apparently, vibration is not a statutory nuisance even though the Environmental Protection Act 1990 & Control of Pollution Act 1974 both state; Noise includes vibration. Also, Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 1999 CHAPTER 24 (a) “pollution” includes pollution caused by noise, heat or vibrations or any other kind of release of energy. 

I have lived here for 27 years and it’s only the last few years that I started experiencing the vibrations. I’m feeling so frustrated with the whole situation as it doesn’t seem to be resolvable as things stand... 

King regards, Steven Furse

Aggregate Industries’ Moorcroft Quarry in the news again

In 2021, we posted that Moorcroft Quarry in Plymstock, was yet another AI quarry in Devon failing to control dust emissions. This time it’s a story in the Plymouth Herald, by the paper’s crime reporter: 

Residents have been left furious with the owner of a quarry for hacking down dozens of 'healthy' full grown trees home to a range of wildlife - and claim the landscape has been 'left looking like a battle scene out of Apocalypse Now' https://t.co/tY4ZfdJVHn

— Plymouth Live (@Plymouth_Live) March 3, 2023

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the story, Aggregate Industries has clearly failed to effectively communicate its intentions to the local community. One angry resident told PlymouthLive: 

The trees along the border have been there for decades - they're really tall and lush in summer and create a natural curtain which muffles a lot of the noise from the quarry. There's a big operation just on the other side and they start work early and it can be really noisy sometimes, so the curtain of trees has been a real benefit to the street. 

But when we saw how many trees they were cutting down, we've been utterly appalled. It's an absolute haven for wildlife. At night you can hear owls hooting, I've seen rabbits and foxes and a few years ago I even saw a herd of deer racing along the top. You even see birds of prey on the upper branches. We all know there's a great big quarry on the other side, but for most of the year you can look at it an imagine it's the edge of a vast beautiful forest. 

They didn't even bother to let the residents know and it looks like they've gone berserk with chainsaws, chopping down perfectly healthy trees. Of course, they'll claim they're all sick or something, but if you look at Google Street View's images of it in May 2022 you can see the majority are perfectly healthy and lush. It's just vandalism - plain and simple. It's the absolute arrogance of these big firms to steam in and hack away at nature which is so galling.

The firm must restock the felled area before June 2029. Another angry resident said: 

We'll be watching very closely to see if they do what they've been told to, because they've left it looking like a battle scene out of Apocalypse Now. They've ripped the guts out of the woods and it looks bloody awful. It'll take decades to return to the lush state it was in before the chainsaws came and the wildlife may never return. 

Aggregate Industries once bragged about its community engagement around Moorcroft Quarry: 

No other quarry of our 87 across the UK needs to have active and effective community engagement more than Moorcroft.  

In our situation we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t listen to our neighbours. Community engagement is a long process of talking, listening and presenting a known face. Even if it’s bad news, we tell them because, if we don’t, they’ll just make up their own stories. 

Hollow words.

EDIT 13.3.23

 

Yet more trees being hacked down by @AggregateUK team at Moorcroft quarry... They obviously missed Attenborough last night saying we need businesses to help save nature... pic.twitter.com/twp9NLaJHY

— Carl Eve (@CarlEveCrime) March 13, 2023

Yet another AI quarry in Devon failing to control dust emissions

Aggregate Industries has a history of failing to control dust. This is apparent not only at its Bardon Hill quarry in Leicestershire, but also at its Westleigh quarry in Devon – as we have previously posted. 

But it turns out another Aggregate Industries quarry in Devon – Moorcroft Quarry in Plymstock near Plymouth – is "causing health worries amongst its neighbours", reports PlymouthLive:

  

Plymouth residents are 'fed up' with the seemingly endless dust, noise and fumes which they say comes from a nearby working quarry. https://t.co/bv3Pf2aBDJ

— Plymouth Live (@Plymouth_Live) April 3, 2021

Councillor Nigel Churchill, who represents the ward where the residents and quarry is situated, said he has had calls about Moorcroft quarry "all year round". 

How can this be? Aggregate Industries claims it’s a responsible company: 

We care about the environment and communities around our sites... 

Has Aggregate Industries given up caring "all year round"? Or was that claim never meant to be taken seriously, no more seriously than this claim:

As a forerunner in its commitment to the sustainability plight, Aggregate Industries continues to apply an increasingly eco-friendly approach to all business areas

One resident said: 

Over the last three or four years the dust and noise has got worse, not to mention the fumes. I've spoken to the manager there I don't know how many times. 

Another:

 … as for the dust - it's hardly worth cleaning the car or the windows because as soon as you do, 12 hours later there's a thick layer on them…. There's definitely been an increase in the amount of noise and dust in recent years.

Yet another: 

I've been complaining for ages about the smell and noise. They say the dust levels are within the limits but when you look at your car windows each day, covered in it, your letter box has got a thick layer, your outdoor table is thick with it - you wonder what is happening to your lungs. 

They say they have water bowsers to damp down the large heaps of dust but I question as to whether they are using them. I've got neighbours around me who have complained about suffering from the dust, some of them have asthma. There's others who have contracted lung cancer who have never smoked. I can't say it's related - but I want to know what it is we're breathing in every day and what can it do to us? That's the biggest thing, more than anything - what is it doing to our health? 

A spokesperson at Aggregate Industries is quoted as saying: 

We are currently looking into some recent complaints in relation to our Moorcroft Quarry. As a responsible supplier within the area, we take all complaints very seriously and have therefore launched an investigation into this. We will look to deploy mitigation measures if necessary, to ensure we can reduce any future disruptions to the local community. 

In 2007, Plymouth City Council reckoned Moorcroft "has about 50 years of permitted reserves".

In the same year, Aggregate Industries crowed: 

No other quarry of our 87 across the UK needs to have active and effective community engagement more than Moorcroft. 

"In our situation we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t listen to our neighbours. Community engagement is a long process of talking, listening and presenting a known face. Even if it’s bad news, we tell them because, if we don’t, they’ll just make up their own stories."

So how’s that going, Aggregate Industries? Are local residents just making up their own stories?