Concerns over infill quarry bid
Scheme to import waste
Villagers in Throsk are hoping to halt plans to import waste into a nearby quarry.
Cowiehall Quarry between Throsk and Cowie has been operated by Patersons of Greenoakhill for 29 years but is said to have just six to nine months’ working life left.
Part of the original permission was that the site would be restored to agricultural land once quarrying came to an end.
It was originally expected there would be enough infill material on the site to allow completion of the restoration.
However, Patersons now say there will be shortfall and have applied for a variation of the permission which will allow some of the material to be transported in, without which they say a deep area could end up full of water.
Throsk Community Council has raised concerns about the impact of such heavy traffic on residents and a special hearing of Stirling Council’s planning panel will be held tomorrow (Thursday) before councillors decide whether to allow the variation.
Community council chair Jimmy Morton has told council planners: “I would like to object to the infilling of the quarry on the grounds of the impact of heavy traffic going through the village and the environment and would like the opportunity to speak at the hearing.”
Council planners meanwhile are recommending conditional approval of the application saying the imported infill would not be brought in until extraction had ceased at the sand and gravel quarry and traffic movements would then be less than the community already experiences. Nine direct jobs would also be retained as well as some indirect jobs.
They are also recommending conditions which would minimise dust nuisance and restrict removal operations to 7am7pm Monday to Friday and from 8am-1pm on Saturdays.
In a report due before tomorrow’s hearing, planners said: “HGVs bringing waste to the site will utilise the current quarry access off the A905. The quarry currently dispatches approximately 300,000 tonnes of sand and gravel per annum and there is no restriction on output from the quarry.
“The proposed infill rate is 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes per annum. The proposed infilling operations will commence when sand and gravel extraction ceases at the quarry as the imported material is required for site restoration. Therefore, the proposed traffic movements associated with the infilling operations, which additional to vehicle movements associated with the dispatch of sand and gravel from the quarry, would be at a reduced level from that which has been experienced.”
In a supporting statement for the application, Patersons said aggregate products produced from the quarry had made a significant contribution to the construction industry and hence the built environment within the Stirling Council and surrounding area.
“These quarrying operations are now coming to an end requiring the quarry to be restored,” they added. “The eastern portion of the quarry can be restored using in-situ material.”
They said if the variance was approved it would allow limited importation of inert waste to allow the western portion of the quarry to be fully re-profiled and restored to the required agricultural afteruse, adding: “Without the imported material the site will ultimately fill with water resulting in a deep water body adjacent to Cowie.”
The site will ultimately fill with water