Protesters hit out at plans to expand huge controversial quarry
PROTESTERS have gathered at the site of a quarry to fight against its controversial expansion plans.
People are protesting near the Craig-yrHesg quarry near Pontypridd which had expansion plans approved in 2022.
The quarry was supposed to cease all operations in 2022 but owners Heidelberg Materials applied to extend the site for another six years. But this was rejected by Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) Council planners in 2022 after hundreds of objections cited the impact of blasting on residents’ health and wellbeing.
However, the company appealed the decision to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) inspectors and Welsh Government ministers signed off on the controversial proposals in October 2022. Last year, residents living near the quarry spoke about their fears over it wrecking their homes and damaging their health.
Protesters have been gathering near the site of the quarry this week. They say they are worried about the quarry’s impact on their health from silica dust and the proximity to houses and public amenities like schools. They also believe it could disrupt wildlife and cause traffic issues, as well as impacting public rights of way.
Heidelberg Materials UK has said it has addressed wildlife concerns and that “strict restrictons” on blasting and air quality monitoring were in place as well as other measures to mitigate any negative impact on residents.
On Tuesday around 40 people gathered near the fence by the quarry site and there was a heavy police presence in the area.
Dr Andrew Thomas, a university lecturer in Cardiff, was one of those protesting and said: “It’s fairly peaceful. There are about 40 or 50 of us, families, adults, children. About the same number of police and enforcement officers, about 30 of them. There is a bit of a standoff, but there is no pushing or shoving.
“They’re saying the land people are standing on is not theirs. People are standing outside a newly erected fence which is the boundary of the quarry. The extension goes further than the fence.”
Dr Thomas said the Welsh Government’s decision to permit expansion for 29 years after RCT council rejected the plans was “scandalous”, adding that it will leave the site within touching distance of residents’ gardens in Glyncoch.
“It’s been contained behind the mountain but the big controversy here is that this new land was used as a public right of way. So you have a working class community which is about 2,000 people who are literally 100 metres from the site, the legal distance from a quarry in the UK. There is a primary school which is 200m away too.
“This is encroaching into their back garden. This is totally ‘Nimby’ because it is literally in their back garden. It is literally two rugby pitches away.
“They’re impacted by blasting, which is felt right into their properties at least once a week. They’re also impacted by lorries going to and fro – it is a road which is only really fit for residential driving, not lorries. Their worry is how they are going to move the lorries into and from the new site.
“It’s a lot of unknowns and as soon as you have that you impact mental health.
“I think once the dust starts blowing over and they are exposed to silica particles in their lungs... They’ve also lost a green space they were very sentimental about, their children’s upbringing playing in the woods is gone.
“It blocks off access to parts of the countryside and it hasn’t been made clear how public rights of way will be protected. Nothing has been communicated.
“I cannot believe this has been signed because it goes against everything the Welsh Government claims to support. It’s so sad. And there is no reason for it to have been done it this way. You can’t stop the planning but you can slow them down doing what they want to do. We don’t believe they care.”
Jayne Davies has lived in the area her whole life and said she was “frightened” about decades of exposure to dust from the quarry. “We’ve been exposed to 50 years of silica dust already,” she said. “You can see the impact – there are people with lung disease, cancer. Now we will see it for another two decades.
“But they are allowed to do it because they say the exposure is within the local limits. But those limits are not safe.
“No one has addressed the time essence of exposure. It is known it is of the highest carcinogenic potential.
“We have been exposed to it daily for 50 years. I’ve found an article by the UK government which says exposure to this dust over a period of 10 years will cause lung disease. We’ve already had 50 years and are looking at 29 more.
“I don’t think people are aware of the risks – they think ‘they are being monitored’ but any exposure is dangerous.
“People are not going to move now – who would want to buy? It is a poor area. My kids are teenagers and I am frightened for all of us. Another 29 years – what hope have we got?”
Jayne added that the land being expanded onto had been often used by the locals and said she felt unable to get any answers despite raising concerns with local politicians and representatives.
“I am going from pillar to post and am getting nowhere. That land was a place of solitude, especially after Covid.
“I don’t know how they’re going to get up and down this road with the lorries. It’s like the A470 here – they’re going to have to use helicopters.”
David Davies, 35, is also protesting and said he couldn’t understand why the plans were approved.
He said: “I’ve walked these mountains since I was 15. It is my home and it is a nature reserve. They can’t be doing this – they moan about the increased traffic and dust pollution, but they will be hugely increasing that by opening a new route at the top of the village.
“People have been coming up with food, the community spirit has been just amazing.
“The last few days we have been here and there have been red kites circling the area. You rarely see them, they are looking for their nest.
“A huge chunk of the mountain has been munched with a machine, there are logs and splinters everywhere.”
David said a number of houses were currently up for sale in the area near where the quarry expansion is but feels they will struggle to be sold under the current circumstances.
He added: “There is a rugby pitch 20-30 metres away. They’re going to be breathing in silica dust which is a major concern for health. We are breathing this in and our children’s children [will too].”
Another protester, Kyle Morris, said he couldn’t believe what was unfolding.
“There is a school a stone’s throw away from the quarry,” he said. “I’m heartbroken to be honest with you, I feel like breaking down and crying.
“The company has said nothing to us. What they’re doing is wrong.
“I can show you pictures of what this mountain has looked like and the destruction that has occurred.”
Heidelberg Materials UK said residents’ concerns regarding the 10 million tonne extension to Craig-yr-Hesg “were not substantiated by the technical evidence put forward” and that inspectors concluded that the proposals “would comply with the development plan and relevant Welsh planning policy.”
It said the inspector ruled the decision was in accordance with the Well Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and that Julie James, then minister for climate change, agreed with this.
Regarding health concerns, the company said its sector was “highly regulated, and we work hard to minimise any potential impacts from our operations on our neighbours”.
It said all amenity and environmental issues raised were thoroughly examined by the PEDW inspector and that “strict conditions on the control of vibration from blasting and ongoing air quality monitoring in Glyncoch to be carried out independently by the local authority” were in place.
It said the eventual restoration of the site would lead to an increase of woodland and improved habitat connectivity within the landscape and that it had also put up 20 bat boxes and 20 bird boxes.
“There have never been any public rights of access over the quarry extension area but, as part of our proposals, we will be creating a permissive path over land to the north of the extension area, allowing pedestrian access from Glyncoch to the Lan Woods to the west,” they said.
It said several wildlife surveys had been undertaken and that no bats had been found to be present, adding: “We are keeping the skylarks under observation and are working with our ecologist to ensure that our ongoing works have no impact on that species going forward.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The Welsh ministers are unable to provide any comment on their decision to allow the planning appeal for the extension to Craig Yr Hesg quarry, as under planning law the decision is final. Local planning authorities have powers to investigate potential breaches of planning control.”