Barford residents vow to battle sand and gravel proposal
CAMPAIGNERS battling a quarry plan near Barford have turned up the heat by alerting residents about a second opportunity to object to the proposal.
The Barford Residents’ Association action group has been battling the sand and gravel quarry at Wasperton Farm for around nine years and new banners put up by the group alongside the A429 are designed to alert the public that they will shortly have a second opportunity to object to the proposed sand and gravel quarry, which would be active for more than 15 years.
The action group admits the long-running battle to stop the quarry is probably about to enter its final phase before the county council’s planning committee decides on the fate of the Smiths Concrete application to develop a 220-acre site for minerals extraction.
Campaigners have always maintained that this is not a done deal and this is borne out by the recent success of a similar campaign at Hamble, Hampshire, where the application was refused.
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.
Action group member Dr Malcolm Eykyn said: “The irony here is that if the planners grant permission for this quarry, St John’s College, which is a registered charity, will be in direct conflict with its own published ethos of ‘environmental sustainability’.
“The stated criteria of a registered charity are encapsulated by the statement that the charity will provide more benefit than harm. St. John’s is clearly in flagrant disregard of that.”
Campaigners say the negative impact on the environment will include damage to rich market gardening quality land, thereby compromising food security. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has sent out individual letters to all farmers in the UK mentioning the importance of “food security” seven times. They also fear increased air pollution poses a serious danger to the health of 250 nursery infants and primary village school pupils, as well as 2,000 residents living within 350 metres of the site.
They claim 200 extra HGVs and other excavation machinery will use roads and cause pollution daily and there are risks to endangered species of fauna and flora.
The group adds the quarry will cause the loss of amenity value with noise pollution in the area close to the Cotswolds in the heart of Shakespeare’s country. The quarry will also destroy protected views of the local landscape which were recently agreed to be protected in the Local Neighbourhood Plan.
