Bid to halt quarry plan stepped up
Gillies Hill campaigners submit petition
Campaigners fighting to stop quarrying at Cambusbarron’s historic Gillies Hill this week submitted a petition to officials opposing road access plans for the Murrayshall Quarry there.
The Save Gillies Hill campaign handed in the petition – opposing Patersons Quarries Ltd’s plans for an access road from Polmaise Road to the south-east – at Stirling Council’s headquarters at Viewforth yesterday (Tuesday).
As well as the new petition containing about 500 signatures they also pointed out that a previous petition against resuming quarrying at Gillies Hill contained thousands of signatures.
Campaigners had thought the rejection of Patersons’ appeal in 2017 against Stirling Council’s failure to determine plans to resume quarrying had brought the matter to an end. Planning permission for further quarrying, on the grounds of traffic noise and the unsuitability of the road access, had also been rejected.
However, the access road plans were lodged in August, following an application for a review of old mineral permissions, raising the prospect of the resumption of quarrying. The road access plans were withdrawn to be replaced with revised plans last month.
Save Gillies Hill campaign chairman and treasurer Iain Munro said this week: “The woodlands around Cambusbarron are in danger of being destroyed if quarrying is allowed to be revived.
“As well as the destruction of the hill, our campaign again highlights the dreadful harm that transporting the goods by 30-40 tonne HGVs through Stirling city roads to and from the quarry could cause.
“The Scottish Government Reporter scuppered the idea of quarrying to be allowed, as the Polmaise Road from the quarry to the Torbrex Bridge was deemed unsuitable.
“This however has not stopped Patersons, who wish to quarry at Murrayshall, from applying for a new access plus other amendments suggesting their proposals mitigate the concerns that the Reporter highlighted.
“We respectfully suggest that if the Reporter found the short journey from the quarry to the Torbrex Bridge unsuitable surely the proposed route/s from the bridge through the city are totally unacceptable.”
Gillies Hill is home to an ancient woodland and is said to be the site where Robert the Bruce stationed the gillies, of followers, before the Battle of Bannockburn.
Quarrying at the site ceased about a decade ago.
The quarry site is split between two owners, with the eastern side owned by Drygate Investments Ltd. Patersons has entered into a lease with DI for the extraction of minerals from DI’s portion of the quarry.
The western side of the quarry is owned by Tillicoultry Quarries Ltd and includes the old stock and processing area along with current access.
In February this year Patersons submitted an application for a review of Old Mineral Permissions (ROMP) in relation to Murrayshall Quarry.
This submission was not a planning application seeking the grant of planning permission for a new development, but an application to put in place modern planning conditions governing existing permitted operations at the Quarry.
Patersons have been contacted for comment.