Oxfordshire quarry application approved
Smiths & Sons (Bletchington) granted conditional permission for 97ha extension to Gill Mill Quarry
FAMILY-owned Smiths & Sons (Bletchington) have welcomed the decision by Oxfordshire County Council’s Planning and Regulation Committee to grant conditional permission for their plans for a 97ha extension to Gill Mill Quarry, near Ducklington, on the outskirts of Witney.
The new permission will allow the site to supply a further 5 million tonnes of sand and gravel over the next 25 years, protecting the future of an existing operation that supports 40 jobs directly and many more indirectly, and which also recycles local building waste as aggregates.
The council’s approval is also significant for biodiversity and tourism, as the plans will continue and expand the site’s programme of progressive restoration for nature uses and will make a substantial potential contribution to Oxfordshire’s biodiversity targets.
New nature conservation habitats will total more than 120ha and in the future tourists will be attracted by self-catering eco-lodges that will overlook extensive newly created reed beds, which will help the long-term funding of the biodiversity programme.
The plans also provide for improved access to the countryside for local people and visitors alike, with some 11km of new paths and bridleways. Smiths will also provide new paths along the Windrush Valley, linking into their Rushy Common Nature Reserve and the Tar Lakes recreation area, and will be working with the parish council at Ducklington to provide new parking places in the village for walkers attracted to the new paths.
On completion of mineral extraction, the restoration design provides for a complex of lakes for water-based recreation activities for the benefit of the local community.
Over the life of the current extraction operations at Gill Mill, land that has been quarried has been progressively reinstated to new beneficial after-uses. This has included the Rushy Common Nature Reserve, which was opened in 2012, and the popular neighbouring Tar Lakes, which feature circular walks designed with wheelchairs in mind.
The project has been led by Smiths’ planning and estates manager, Martin Layer. ‘We are obviously delighted that the county council has accepted our case and are grateful to the many local people and organizations who have contributed to the debate and to the ideas that have emerged as a result,’ he said.
‘Whilst maintaining an essential local industry and the local jobs that it provides, this is a project that will undoubtedly deliver substantial benefits for wildlife and the community while protecting all that is best in a beautiful area. It demonstrates very well that quarrying can have highly positive impacts beyond the essential materials that it provides.’
