Quarry plans near village set to be decided

Trevor Bevins
Local Democracy Reporting Service
LDRS A view of a country road. The road is black tarmac and there are large green trees framing either side of the road, as well as hedging.LDRS
If approved the plans would also involve building a conveyor belt along the B3390 towards Station Road

Proposals to extract 11.5 million tonnes of sand and gravel near a Dorset village is set to be decided.

The quarry plans are for two adjacent sites at Hurst Farm and Station Road near Moreton.

Dozens of people have written to object to the plans, citing the potential negative impact on the landscape and village, as well as the loss of good quality farmland.

Dorset Council officers have recommended the proposal from Raymond Brown Quarry Products be approved at a meeting later. They said the need for building materials in the county outweighs the negative impacts of the scheme.

Extraction is being proposed at the rate of 600,000 tonnes a year, over the course of 20 years. There would then be a further five years of restoration.

Each site would take 10 years and the plans state Hurst Farm would be worked on first.

At its peak, the plans said work would generate 200 HGV movements every working day.

Dorset Council officers said the proposal would "in the long term create a significant biodiversity gain".

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