Fears over future of nature reserve if stone quarrying plan is allowed
RESIDENTS OF a Yorkshire village say a local nature reserve remains under threat a year- andahalf after an application for stone quarrying nearby was first mooted.
The Brockadale reserve, a site of special scientific interest six miles from Pontefract, links the agricultural conservation villages of Wentbridge and Kirk Smeaton.
Its southern and eastern boundaries are the site of a proposed extension to an existing quarry, which would yield nearly 5m tons of stone, planners have been told. The plan will be discussed at a future North Yorkshire Council meeting.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, which manages the reserve with the help of volunteers, has objected to the proposals, as has Natural England and Kirk Smeaton Parish Council.
Dr Paul Simmons, a biologist who has volunteered at the site for 40 years, said work on the site could cause lasting damage.
He said: “Our fear is that quarrying will cause damage to plant growth and hydrology. Even when quarrying ceases these plants and animal species would not be able to recolonise from elsewhere as there is no near reservoir of these unusual species and certainly nowhere which replicates the unique nature of the reserve.” A decision on the proposals, made by Pontefract- based Wentvalley Aggregates, was due to taken by the council in June last year, but Martin Donlon, a former member of the parish council, said: “It has been delayed again and again. People have been primed and ready to speak, only to be put off. We have no idea when it will be resolved.
Tricia Storey, chair of Kirk Smeaton Parish Council, added: “We’ve heard nothing from the county council.
“The report still hasn’t gone through to the planning committee.”
The county council said the plans had been “subject to a number of representations which have raised many issues”.
Vicky Perkin, head of planning at the authority, said: “When an officer report has been completed, the application will be presented to the county council’s planning and regulatory functions committee.”
There is nowhere which replicates the unique nature of the reserve. Dr Paul Simmons, a biologist who has volunteered at the site for 40 years.