A SPEAKER at the weekend conference on winning support for awarding the Forest of Dean special status warned that the area faced a major threat from increased quarrying.

And David Young of Action Against Quarrying called for the rundown of all quarrying in the Forest of Dean area over a period of about 25 years.

"I think the objective is realistic and achievable," said Mr Young, who lives in Woolaston.

"The biggest threat to the Forest of Dean today is the prospect of a dramatic increase in hard rock limestone quarrying.

"Our limestone ridges and plateaus are a valuable and finite resource. To quarry them for profit today is just not sustainable development for the future."

Delegates and members of the public who attended the Envocon 99 conference at Five Acres were told that the policy of 'predict and provide' meant that the Forest had to share a forecast national demand for aggregate under the Minerals Local Plan of 400 million tonnes per year, more than double the actual rate of extraction now.

In the face of this needs for road building and housing were not growing, and of the 2.2 million tonnes a year the Forest was expected to provide only 1.2 million tonnes was a real need.

There was a poor road structure to cope with the traffic this would mean and also a hardening of public opinion against environmentally damaging and unsustainable developments.

Mr Young pointed out that there was a growing use of recycled aggregate material – a much more widespread practice on the Continent – plus other developing lines of supply for aggregate, such as deep dredging off Norway, which might provide our needs at lower costs to the industry and the environment.

"Twenty-five years is long enough for all these things to come about. We would then arrive at a time when we would not even dream of approving the opening of a new greenfield site to quarrying within the Forest of Dean area."

He urged people to support the push for special status for the area, to object to plans for increased quarrying, and to write to MPs asking for an effective quarry gate tax on mineral aggregate extraction.

He concluded that we owed it to our children to conserve and enhance our environment for future generations.

The Dean Envocon 99 weekend of conferences, workshops and an environmental fair proved popular and an audience of 70 attended Mr Young's talk alone. It was organised by the Dean Environmental Forum with the support of Biffa/Ward, the Forest of Dean District Council, the Royal Forest of Dean College, the Countryside Agency and the Environment Agency.