Extension at Swanworth quarry at Worth Matravers approved

Councillors were told that up to 30 posts out of 50 directly employed in the Swanworth quarry at Worth Matravers could have been lost in the near future had councillors rejected the application.

A two-year delay in getting consent means that the quarry is now close to the limits of extraction in the existing pit.

Dorset councillors unanimously approved the application from owners, Suttles Stone Quarries, on Monday after a lengthy hearing.

They were told that more than a hundred letters had been received supporting the application, including from Corfe Castle Parish Council – with seventy against.

Ward councillors Cherry Brooks told the strategic planning meeting that the company had a history of being community-minded and had come up with a detailed plan to restore the existing quarry and, longer-term, the extension which will now be dug – together with environmental improvements to surrounding land through a £340,000 fund.

She said that the company employed 110 people, 50 of them in the quarry itself and, of those, 30 jobs could be at risk if the extension was not approved.

She reminded fellow councillors that the digging, together with a new bridge, to link the two areas, would be temporary and, once completed, the site would be restored.

Work is expected to get underway on the new bridge in the New Year , which could take six months to construct, with digging for the quarry extension following on after that. In the meantime earth bunds will be created to shield the site from the main road towards Kingston,

Said operations director, John Suttle: “We are acutely aware of the duty we have as custodians of the landscape,” telling councillors that the extension was vital to secure the future of the business and local jobs.

He said the alternative to using aggregate stone from the quarry was that local builders would have to bring the materials they need from further way – with the additional road miles and environmental costs that would entail. Mr Suttle said the company was also the only one locally able to produce materials for sea defence works when it was needed in a hurry,

He said that with taxes, wages, local purchases and energy costs the company spent £7m annually in the Purbeck economy.

He said the money pledged for an environment fund, to be administered by Dorset Council, would ensure the restoration of both quarry areas and wildlife habitat improvements across 150 acres of surrounding land.

There had been objections to the extension – most focused on claims that the larger Swanworth Quarry at Worth Matravers would be intrusive in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty over a longer period and could add to the risks of road accidents and pollution.

The company say that the 14 hectare extension, which includes retaining the existing processing plant and to be allowed to continue importing inert waste to restore quarried areas, will not result in any additional lorry movements.

The extension will see 2.4million tonnes of limestone extracted at the rate of 125,000 tonnes a year over 20 years with 75,000 tonnes of inert waste a year brought onto the site for restoration of the quarried areas.

The application includes the construction of a five-metre tall bridge across Coombe Bottom and the Purbeck Way path to access the extended site.

Objector Martin Rowell told councillors that agreeing the extension would delay restoring the site by twenty years, a period where residents would have to continue living with 150 lorry movements a day on a road which has a steep hill and no footpath.

“It would be an extraordinary prospect for the committee to support given the environmental and safety issues,” he said, claiming that stone aggregate was available form other, less environmentally damaging locations, and need not come from Swanworth,

He described the proposed payments from the company into the environmental fund as less than 0.2 per cent of its annual turnover – an amount which he said was “wholly inadequate.”