Dame Judi Dench supports village’s fight against Warwickshire quarry plan

DAME Judi Dench has expressed her support for Barford and its residents as they continue their fight against plans for a huge sand and gravel quarry.

The actor, who has a long love of Warwickshire from her time at the RSC in Stratford and many return visits, provides the introduction to the protesters’ new video which highlights the reasons why they believe the quarry is not needed and poses a threat to the community.

Both Dame Judi’s mother and her late husband, Michael Williams, are buried in nearby Charlecote churchyard.

In the film’s introduction, she says: “As someone who spent many, many very happy years in this part of the country, it distresses me terribly to think that this landscape, which I know and I love so much, may be destroyed. I hope it doesn’t happen.”

The Barford Residents’ Association action group has been battling the quarry at Wasperton Farm for around years. The application for the 220-acre site - about 350 metres from the village - has been submitted by Smiths Concrete and, if successful, the site would be active for 15 years.

Smiths Concrete is now wholly owned by Germany-based Heidelberg, the largest concrete manufacturer in the world. The land earmarked for the proposed quarry is owned by St John’s College, Oxford and was controversially included in the county’s mineral plan.

The application is expected to enter its next stage within the next six months as Smiths Concrete must submit further information required by Warwickshire County Council.

The new film claims the Wasperton site could remain active for some 40 years.

Dr Malcolm Eykyn, a member of the Barford Residents’ Association, said information contained in an agreement they obtained showed once extraction has ceased, Smiths Concrete could – subject to planning – have the option to recycle aggregates from the site.

Campaigners argue that there could be severe health consequences from the site

Smith’s Concrete has always maintained that sand and gravel quarries have minimal impact on air quality and near non-existent environmental risks.

The video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/E8SkSRAuVFw