CPRE EXTRACTS THE TRUTH ABOUT QUARRYING
CPRE
Holes equivalent to an area the size of Birmingham could puncture the
heart of the English countryside if predicted demands for quarrying are
to be met over the next decade.
This is the warning issued by CPRE with the publication of Extracting
the Truth about Quarrying. This CPRE report reveals hard-hitting facts
about the damage minerals extraction could do to the countryside –
unless the Government fulfils its promise to change its approach to minerals
planning, and seeks to maximise our use of recycled and alternative materials.
Jill Hatcher, CPRE's Senior Natural Resources Campaigner, said: 'It
is not just more unnecessary holes in the countryside that we have to
worry about, and the landscape damage that entails. Digging deep into
the countryside brings disturbance to communities, chokes country lanes
with noise and dust from lorries, and shatters rural tranquillity.'
Extracting the Truth about Quarrying reveals that the amount of extraction
would require the equivalent of 125 million trucks travelling around the
country between 2001-2016; and many areas of countryside have already
been earmarked for quarrying, with a staggering 5,776 million tonnes of
new aggregates waiting to be dug.
Instead of planning to reduce the demand for minerals, the Government
continues to pursue an out-dated approach of 'predict and provide'. The
Government's own plans for new 'sustainable communities' alone ( which
will bring large numbers of new houses, as well as roads and flood defences
in the South East ( could eat up vast amounts of material. Its damaging
road building proposals will mean more holes in the ground too.
The Government is soon to issue its flagship policy statement for minerals
planning. CPRE is calling for a more intelligent and flexible approach
to quarrying that:
- is environment-led, placing greater emphasis on meeting actual need,
rather than relying on crude estimates of demand;
- encourages the replacement of newly quarried minerals with secondary
or recycled aggregates, or alternative materials such as glass. The
Government should set far more ambitious targets for their use;
- protects our most valued landscapes and countryside features from
new quarrying, and minimises, reduces or removes the damaging impact
of existing works; and
- recognises that minimising our consumption of quarried materials should
be a key objective in building sustainable communities.
Jill Hatcher concluded: 'Meeting our construction needs should not
compromise the character of the countryside, its tranquillity, ecology
or heritage. Some quarrying will continue, but it should not permanently
scar our valued landscape. We must dig less and plan better for quarrying
in the countryside before it is too late because once our landscape is
lost, it is gone forever.'
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