Final extension before Derbyshire quarry closes down after 70 years

A planned final extension to a Derbyshire quarry is set for approval despite concerns about dust and noise from people living nearby. The plans, from Cemex, would see a 50-acre extension excavated from Willington to Burton, crossing from Derbyshire to Staffordshire, close to Newton Solney and the A38 Clay Mills junction.

It would be quarried for 600,000 tonnes of sand and gravel of a high quality, fit for use to make concrete. The scheme is now set to be decided at a Derbyshire County Council meeting on Monday, December 2, with planning officials recommending approval.

In total, the current Willington Quarry site, operated by Cemex, covers 250 acres, and has been worked since the 1960s, with this extension to form the final addition ending 70 years of quarrying at the site. Setting up the extension and quarrying it to completion would take around two years, the company says, after which it would be restored to become a series of wetland nature reserves, as with existing sites around Willington – which have now become home to beavers.

Restoration as a nature reserve is forecast for September 2027, Cemex said in its application. The plans say a temporary 28-metre bridge would be built over the River Dove to transport material back to the existing plant site in Derbyshire.

Access to the plot would continue to be The Castle Way in Willington and High Bridge Lane. Plans detail that the new extension would see 200 vehicle movements a day, with 185 being heavy commercial vehicles.

A total of 11 objection letters have been submitted to the council over the plans, with fear over “unacceptable” impacts from noise, dust and on the landscape around Newton Solney – with homes 80 metres from the proposed boundary. Concerns were also raised about the potential increase in flooding, with the scheme to sit within the River Trent floodplain, and on the Grade II*-listed church of St Mary the Virgin.

County council planning officers, recommending approval, wrote: “I consider that the proposal represents an efficient means of obtaining mineral resources and the benefits which that supply entails. I do not consider that there are any material considerations that would outweigh the benefits.

“I am satisfied that the proposed development could be worked in an environmentally acceptable manner. The analyses of the potential environmental effects associated with the development, such as noise and dust emissions, have demonstrated that these effects are individually within accepted limits.

“Therefore, I do not consider there to be any significant potential for a combination or accumulation of these effects to be unacceptable. I am satisfied that there would not be any unacceptable cumulative effects associated with the proposed development.”

Cemex makes clear: “The quarry has generated a similar number of heavy commercial / light vehicle movements for many years. This planning application which seeks to extend Willington Quarry, will be a continuance of the existing practice rather than the introduction of additional vehicles onto the local highway network.”

It says: “The proposed restoration scheme will make a significant and positive contribution to local biodiversity by creating a diverse range of habitats that will in turn, encourage a range of different species. The final landscape will fully comply with and aid in the delivery of the Trent Valley Vision through the creation of flood meadow grassland, river braiding, conservation lakes, small ponds and scrapes, wet woodland and reedbeds.

“In addition to biodiversity enhancements, the re-engineering of the landscape will provide additional flood mitigation measures in the locality, taking into consideration the effects of climate change.” The plans will help to retain 12 jobs with further indirect jobs safeguarded, Cemex says.

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