Restoration of Spixworth Quarry-HGV's Travelling through Spixworth
Monday, 31 May 2021
Norfolk County Council Applications to extend the extension of the time period to complete restoration at Spixworth Quarry.
The Application, as submitted, sought to extend the end dates for the restoration of the sites to October 2024. This would have resulted in a worst-case scenario of the continued use of the existing access for a further three and a half years and whilst the HGVs do not come through Spixworth itself they did cross the very north western corner of the parish.
We are very conscious of the considerable public concern regarding the continuation of HGV movements through your and other Parishes and therefore in response to this we have proposed to Norfolk CC that our Applications be time limited by a condition that would not allow any further use of the existing access beyond the end of October 2021 giving certainty that there would be no further HGV traffic associated with our Quarry at Spixworth beyond that date.
We will need to revise the contours of the restored landform as clearly given the reduction in the time available for bringing in infilling materials we will not have brought in the levels of fill originally anticipated. We will therefore need to submit revised plans to Norfolk County Council for their approval. However, we are confident that we can still deliver a high grade of restored agricultural land.
There was discussion about the ability to use a direct access from the roundabout on the NNDR but having carefully considered the amount of infill material left to import and the additional works required to build a new road to connect to the NNDR, which were quite significant, altering the access for these Applications could not be justified. If proposals come forward for extensions to Spixworth Quarry, as proposed by the County's Minerals Local Plan, then using an access directly onto the NNDR will be a key part of that development.
I hope the above is an acceptable compromise and gives the Local Community some certainty in terms of when HGV movements through the parish associated with Spixworth Quarry will come to an end.
