A public meeting will take place
on Monday 7th February at 7.00pm
in Middridge Village Hall
Dear Sir,
Many locals are very concerned that this is even being considered for planning application. The Parish Council and local DCC Councillors have had talks with the landowner since summer of last year. The initial request from residents was that they ask the landowners to make safe an exposed steep drop at the top of the quarry (as it is on a public footpath). We expected a suggestion of stronger fencing or perhaps some dense thorny bushes to make a barrier, nothing more. Indeed, our local DCC Councillor, who is working on the project, said himself that it didn’t need to be complicated and suggested thorny bushes as an easy solution.
To see the developments and assessments, which must have come at considerable cost to the landowners, was a complete shock, especially given that the quarry is a designated site of scientific interest (SSI) and to that end believed would never come close to even a suggestion of any plan to landfill.
The proposal seems to infill the front end of the quarry and leave the SSI area untouched – which in turn leaves the steep drops as they are now. The plan shows thorny bushes on some steep drops but we are being told that the infill is required to make the project financially viable.
I personally feel that a proposal running into financial values of £ millions (based on £30 per tonne) whilst useful for the landowners is unfortunately likely to cause considerable damage to the health and wellbeing of the residents. Enduring up to four years of work with large tipper lorries passing by the front of their homes, along with the safety risks, noise, and dirt, is a very large cost to the community for a few thorny bushes.
The landowners are close to submitting a full application to DCC for planning. We are keen to ensure that the public are aware of this proposal, which will involve up to twenty tipper trucks per day (forty passings for each way). The average figure quoted of nine trucks still means a total of eighteen journeys. These are large, polluting trucks, the majority, we are told, coming from Aycliffe and will be travelling up Walkers Lane which is a single track road with no footpath and the lane is used by joggers, walkers etc. and is a connecting route to the Shildon – Aycliffe cycleway.
There are a lot of elderly people who do not use online media and we want to make sure that everyone is aware of the proposals and given the opportunity to have their say. We need peoples comments, concerns or approvals to be provided to the Parish Council and/or their local DCC representative.
Name and address supplied
