A COUNTY councillor has criticised delays to the restoration of a quarry near Romsey that should have been completed in January.
Raymond Brown Quarry Products has submitted a plan to Hampshire County Council to push back the restoration of Roke Manor Quarry.
Cllr Nick Adams-King described the delays as 'disappointing'. The county council cabinet member for universal services said: “It’s disappointing that there is a need for the restoration of the first stages of the Roke Manor site to be extended. I support the comments of local residents who are deeply disappointed in the news.
“The restoration of the site has seemingly caused issues with water displacement which is impacting both the surface of Old Salisbury Lane and the flooding by the railway bridge at the bottom of the hill beneath Roke.
READ MORE: Chilworth electrical battery storage facility at angry meeting
“This was raised by local residents and myself with Raymond Brown at a recent meeting. If the restoration period must be extended I hope the fresh planning application may allow for a requirement that this concern is addressed by the operators.”
The council granted planning permission in June 2009 to extract 780,000 tonnes of sand and gravel, landfill with inert construction, demolition, excavation waste, and restoration to agriculture at Roke Manor.
One of the planning conditions specifies that complete site restoration, including the plant site, haul road, and bunds, must be finished within 11 years from the start of the bell-mouth access construction on the A27.
The council said that started on January 31, 2013, so Roke Manor Quarry should have been restored by January 31, 2024.
However, due to a “range of operational and market challenges arising on-site throughout working”, the quarry said restoration would not be completed by that date.
It said Covid-19 affected its timeline, as work was halted in 2020 and 2021. It also blamed seasonal constraints, such as groundwater level, ingress, and soil moisture content, also delayed the construction of the “geotechnical cell-lining” and “soil handling”.
For those reasons, the firm wants to extend the completion date of the development until January 2028.
It is forecasted that trees and shrub planting will be undertaken during the winter of 2026/27, with the final restoration completed by spring 2027.
By Friday, April 5, no public comments in support or objection had been submitted.
For more details about the planning application online, search 24/00736/CMAS on Hampshire County Council's planning portal.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here