THE consulting firm working on plans for a new quarry at Hewelsfield has told the Review it is objecting to Gloucestershire County Council's minerals policy.
In particular, says Mr Simon Rees on behalf of Greenfield Associates, the county is a massive 10 million tonnes short of Government crushed rock targets and needs quarries like Hewelsfield to meet its obligations.
If the quarry is included in the Minerals Local Plan after a public inquiry beginning on September 1, "Full consultation with the local community will be undertaken and their views will be incorporated into any development proposals for the site," Mr Rees pledges.
"This consultation would cover a range of local environmental issues, such as the potential to develop a new road link to minimise the impact of the development on local communities," he adds.
Proposals for the quarry itself and a new private road to carry heavy trucks have been attacked by many people in nearby communities, and last week a public meeting was held in St Briavels to update protesters.
Gloucestershire County Council's public inquiry is expected to take six weeks plus a two week interval, and an independent planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State will be hearing Greenfields' objections to the plan together with submissions for and against quarry proposals which are already in the plan, unlike Hewelsfield.
Mr Rees' statement also says: "The county has an acknowledged shortfall of 10.6 million tonnes of crushed rock from the Forest of Dean and is not making provision for the release of sufficient land for mineral development within the plan period (1997-2006).
"This action goes against central government advice, which requires each county to meet its local apportionment of aggregate supplies. These government policies apply to all counties in England and Wales.
"The proposed Hewelsfield site is in a generally remote location, with restricted views into the site, and contains a substantial deposit of high quality limestone reserves.
"As agents for this site, we consider that it will make a significant contribution to the local and regional minerals requirement, supplying aggregates for the construction of local schools, hospitals and other infrastructure."
•New government proposals on noise reduction "could shut down Gloucestershire's quarrying industry within five years," the Quarry Products Association claimed this week. Director general Simon van der Byl said: "These new proposals would devastate the quarrying industry and make most quarries inoperable."