A CIVIC chief has blamed Covid and inflation for delays to the restoration of a quarry near Romsey.

The county council has given the green light to postpone the restoration of the Roke Manor quarry, until 2028, some four years late.

The planning application was submitted to delay the restoration of a quarry near Romsey that should have been completed in January 2024.

Hampshire County Council granted permission to delay the restoration until January 2028.

Nick Adams-King, county council leader and borough councillor for Romsey Rural, said: "The main two issues that have caused the restoration to be delayed so significantly were firstly, the pandemic and secondly, severe inflation within the construction sector.

"Both of these factors have dampened down construction over the last few years which means that not so much waste has been generated to fill the hole. And whereas there used to be other ways to fill it such as when a road is dug up, now materialsed can be recycled and not just dumped into the hole. (Which is a good thing!)

"There were additional conditions added to the extension, such as regarding the area of Stanbridge Lakes. Residents were concerned about noise and water run-off and a solution to this would be included in the revised application.

"Raymond Brown, the company in charge of the quarry, has been very responsive and quick to respond to all questions and issues. They are very responsible company.

The liaison panel will meet every six months, meaning the next will be in March 2025."

Roke Quarry had already caused controversy with two extensions previously being granted despite residents' fears that it would ‘”destroy the countryside”.

The first application to extend the Roke Manor Quarry, called the Stanbridge Ranvilles Extension, was set to extract a further 600,000 tonnes of sand and gravel and was submitted early in 2021 to Hampshire County Council. The extension was met with concern by local residents.

The main causes for concerns were over the bio-diversity of the site and the impact from noise and pollution on nearby properties. Fears were also raised over the hours of operations which would be 7am until 6pm on Monday until Friday and 8am until 12.30pm on Saturday.

Councillors had differing views on whether to permit the plan, but the committee agreed as they said there was a need for sand and gravel to meet growing housing demand, and it was approved in 2022.

Additional planning permissions were also granted but under the ruling that the quarry area “shall be fully restored to agriculture within nine years of the date of extraction commencing.”

The council said that as work started on January 31, 2013, Roke Manor Quarry should have been restored by January 31, 2024.

Raymond Brown Quarry Products Ltd, headquartered in Hampshire and involved in mineral extraction, recycling, and land restoration, has now submitted a planning application to Hampshire County Council to change one of its conditions.

The change would involve pushing back the restoration of Roke Manor Quarry an additional 4 years, blaming Covid restrictions, additional restrictions on extracting at the site, market challenges, and seasonal “constraints” were amongst the reasons why the restoration was not completed by the deadline, the council was told.

Since the company was “unable” to meet the restoration on time, it asked to extend it to 15 years rather than 11, which was previously agreed.

With the regulatory committee’s approval, the wording of condition 2, which determined the timeline, will be changed so that Roke Manor Quarry must now be restored by January 31, 2028.

A planning statement issued by Raymond Brown Quarry Products Ltd, admitted the delay “could be considered to have a minor adverse effect on visual impact when considering limited views of the site” from nearby homes.

Tree and shrub planting is forecasted to be undertaken during the winter of 2026/27, with the final restoration completed by spring 2027.

Groundworks will be undertaken in the summer of 2027, and final planting and landscaping will be completed in the planting season over winter 2027/28.

All development elements will enter the “aftercare” period by January 2028.