Villagers to take legal advice over Wensleydale quarry extension

Villagers say they are seeking legal advice over plans to extend a Yorkshire Dales quarry amid claims the operator has ignored residents and misled council officials over problems with noise, dust and vibrations.

Residents of Preston-under-Scar, near Leyburn, have hit out at Wensley Quarry operator Tarmac as the company applies to extend the area quarried and the number of years the site will be worked.

Villagers, who have formed a residents’ group to fight the application, have also criticised North Yorkshire Council planners for failing to enforce conditions put in place to limit disruption caused by the quarry.

Tarmac has submitted an application to change the existing planning permission for the quarry to enable the extraction of minerals from existing and new areas earlier than previously planned.

The company also wants to extend the year it has to finish working the quarry from 2042 to 2053.

Preston-under-Scar Residents’ Group is concerned the extended quarry would be within 270m of homes.
The group said in a statement: “For ten years residents have suffered nuisance dust, noise and blasting vibrations from the quarry, and now it will be half the distance from the village, destroy the beautiful view to Pen Hill and subject us to an extra 11 years of the adverse impacts of their operation  — it is just not acceptable.”

The application states that no dust complaints have been received by the quarry in the last ten years and so no amendments are needed to previously agreed planning conditions.

But villagers have records showing that numerous complaints have been raised with the quarry in recent years.
Tarmac also failed to inform council officers of the complaints when they made site visits and failed to maintain a complaints log, which it was required to do under the terms of the previous permission, the group claims.

The group said: “Tarmac have dismissed our complaints for years and concealed them from the council, so now we have come together to document their actions and encourage North Yorkshire Council to enforce the planning conditions Tarmac are blatantly ignoring.
“Tarmac purports to be deeply concerned about the environment and their effect on local communities, but how they are operating here is a world away from their slick online façade.”

Villagers say granting this application would allow the quarry to operate up until 2053 without any periodic reviews and without needing to comply with biodiversity net gain regulations, which would be applied if it submitted a new application.
The group, which says it is seeking specialist legal advice over the application, added that no public consultation was held prior to the new application being submitted and Tarmac bosses only agreed to meet with residents days before the deadline for comments on the proposal.

Residents are also critical of the council for failing to monitor the quarry and for agreeing with Tarmac that applying for an amendment to the original 2015 permission, using a section 73 application, would be sufficient to deal with the extension.
It added: “The purpose of North Yorkshire Council is to act as a champion for the county and its residents and improve the quality of life for everyone. In this matter, their purpose seems to be to make it as easy as possible for Tarmac to maximise their profits, with the minimum oversight and workload for the council.

“This should be an inclusive negotiation between three parties, but Tarmac and the council have not invited local citizens to the table.
“The council continues consultations with Tarmac. We, the local citizens, want to be involved in these ongoing discussions, not just given a month to react before council officers make recommendations to the strategic planning committee.”

Tarmac has not responded to requests to comment from the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council said the authority would not be able to comment because it was a live planning application.