Peak District National Park refuse another Quarry

Submitted by PaulM on Saturday, 29 June 2002 Page Views: 1511

In what is becoming a promising trend the Peak District National Park Authority has rejected a proposal to extend a sandstone quarry in the far north of the protected area.

The Authority's Planning Control Committee has refused plans to remove stone for roofing slates and flags from an area of 1.3 hectares, over a 10 year period, at Linshaw's Quarry, north of Upper Snailsden Moss at Dunford.

In July last year, the planning committee had resolved to grant planning permission but referred the matter to the Secretary of State for the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions. He subsequently decided not to call in the application, leaving the final decision with the Authority. After re-considering the issues, including comments from objectors, the committee members decided to turn down the application because it went against National Park policies.

Clr John Bull, who chairs the Planning Control Committee, said, "The Authority's main purpose is to conserve and enhance the National Park and in this instance, we felt that, although the quarrying was limited in scale, we viewed it as being a major development which raised significant planning policy issues."

As well as being located in a National Park the proposal affected habitats and wildlife of national and European importance. The proposed quarry lay within the Dark Peak Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the Peak District Moors Special Protection Area (SPA), and the South Pennine Moors candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC). It also lay within the Natural Zone as designated in the Authority's development plans.

However, despite the high degree of national and international conservation protection, Clr Bull explained that the decision had not been easy to make. He said, "On the one hand there is a recognised local need for new sources of stone slates for use as a traditional building material. But, on the other hand, it's our job to protect the landscape from inappropriate development. It's part of the dilemma we face in decision-making where the conservation of the Peak District's built heritage is sometimes at odds with nature conservation."

He explained that there is a demand for environmentally sustainable sandstone roofing materials but there are few sources of the stone. However, the committee felt that the alternative sources of stone had not been fully explored. He said, "We have taken a firm stance today. On this case we decided that the conservation of the landscape, wildlife and cultural heritage of the National Park and safeguarding areas of European ecological importance of the site outweighed the need to provide local building materials."

We can only hope that a similar firm stance is taken with respect to the quarries flanking Stanton Moor.

Contributor Bio for PaulM: Based in Macclesfield, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Hordron Edge. Occupation: Something in waste and recycling.

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