Emma Dunlop
CONTROVERSIAL plans to extend a quarry in the heart of the Peak District are to go out to public consultation.
The Peak District National Park Authority is asking for people's views on a planning application to extend Dale View quarry on Stanton Moor.
Quarry operator Stancliffe Stone has applied for an extension of almost eight acres to the current 22-and-a-half acre quarry, and proposes to give up its rights to quarry the nearby dormant Lees Cross and Endcliffe sites, should it be given permission.
An authority spokesman said: "The proposed extension-land is on fields off Lees Road, half-a-mile to the east of Stanton-in-Peak village, and would produce up to 62,500 tonnes of gritstone per year, mainly for building work.
"The life of the extension would be 21 years, and would involve a maximum of 25 lorry movements in and out per day, using existing roads."
Stancliffe Stone mounted an exhibition of its plans in Stanton-in-Peak in June, prior to submitting the scheme to the National Park Authority. Residents and public bodies now have the opportunity to make comments for consideration by the National Park Authority's planning committee.
They may also give prior notice that they would like to speak at the committee, once a date for the meeting is set.
Last year the Court of Appeal rejected plans by Stancliffe Stone to reopen Endcliffe and Lees Cross quarries, near Bakewell, even though the company already had planning permission for those sites.
That permission has been subject to many legal battles in the past about whether the site should be classed as active or dormant.
Environmentalists feared the quarrying would have a massive detrimental impact on a nearby Bronze Age stone circle known as the Nine Ladies. However, since Stancliffe Stone originally applied to the Court of Appeal in 2004, it has been exploring alternative ways of resolving the long-running controversy, which include seeking permission to work a different site – Dale View quarry.
But residents in Stanton-in-Peak are completely opposed to the idea, claiming it would destroy much-loved local landscape.
In protest, a group calling itself SADE – Stanton Against the Destruction of our Environment – last summer formed a human chain around the new site.
Coun Anne Zoyroydi from Stanton-in-Peak Parish Council and action group SADE said they will be making strong objections to Stancliffe's proposal to quarry 1.3 million tons of gritstone.
She said: "We believe this is simply too much, and far in excess of what the company might hope to extract out of Lees Cross and Endcliffe quarries if they were re-opened.
"We might consider supporting an application for stone extraction for local needs but obviously 1.3m tons goes far, far beyond that.
"This land swap may save Lees Cross/Endcliffe from damage, but to cite it as any kind of environmental victory is absurd; it simply shifts the problem round the corner to a site less than a quarter mile away."
The public can see the plans during office hours at the National Park Authority's offices at Aldern House, Baslow Road, Bakewell.
In addition, background documents will be available to view from next week on the authority's website at www.peakdistrict.gov.uk
/planning Comments can be sent to the authority or can be lodged online at the above website.
Further help is available on 01629 816361.