Plans to extend Greetham Quarry to within 150m of homes prompts fears and frustration

Villagers have voiced their concerns over plans to extend a quarry to within 150 metres of homes.

Rutland County Council is set to decide on an application from Greetham Quarry operator Mick George to extend into a neighbouring16.3-hectare agricultural plot north of the village.

The company wants to extract 3.1m tons of limestone over the next two decades, or up to 150m tons a year, requiring 64 HGV movements a day.

Several hundred letters of objection were lodged after the plans were submitted in March last year, but Greetham Parish Council is resigned to the plans being accepted and is now working to limit the impact.

The boundary of the site also falls within 50m of the village’s community centre and playing field.

Parish councillor David Hodson is part of a residents team set up to liaise with the county council to improve the planning conditions.

“It is excessively close to part of the village, and the community is very concerned about the health and safety impact of the dust and noise,” he said.

“Rutland County Council has listened to our comments and taken them on board.

“We accept that the world needs stone. We would be very pleased if they could find somewhere not so close to a village, but if it has to be sited there, we are seeking adequate health and safety measures and monitoring which if they exceed those conditions immediate action is taken to rectify matters.”

Promises to restore the now-exhausted existing quarry into a nature reserve have also missed last September’s deadline, prompting more frustration.

“We are pretty upset about that,” Mr Hodson added.

“It was going to be a very significant wildlife area, promised in recognition of the inconvenience of having a quarry on our doorstep.

“We are hearing they will now complete it by 2022.”

The application is due to be considered by the county council’s planning committee in March, together with two supporting applications to extend the time period for restoring the existing quarry.

Proposals to allocate Greetham Quarry north-west extension to extract 3.5m tons of crushed limestone rock were included in the county council's pre-submission Local Plan.

It is planned to be worked from around 2025 by which time other existing commitments, with the exception of Thistleton Quarry, are likely to have limited or no reserves left.

However, the council emphasised the Local Plan carries limited weight in determining planning applications at its current stage.

Mick George said the restoration had been slowed by delays to the extension application.

The company also insisted measures are in place to limit the quarry’s impact on the community, and there would be no increase in HGV traffic.

A statement read: “The company has liaised with Rutland Council and its agent regarding various schemes that would ensure the amenity of local residents will not be unduly harmed, consistent with clear central governmental advice on the matter. There will be no mineral extraction within 150m of any residential dwelling, which is greater than the existing quarry permits.”

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