On Tuesday the 29th March Bidford on Avon Parish Council, in Warwickshire, received notification that a planning application had been received at County Council Offices for a proposal, as part of the county's 10 year mineral plan to extract sand and gravel from a site that the developers (RMC Ltd) are calling 'Broom Court Farm'. The site is not Broom Court Farm (RMC's first of many mistakes), it is Marriage Hill, and has lead everyone who knows the area, and who digs (pardon the pun!) a little deeper into RMC's proposal to question the true extent of the plans proposed.
RMC have another local quarry site - planning permission was granted 10 years ago on appeal after local protests - the site at Dunnington in Warwickshire is an open wound on the beautiful Warwickshire countryside, barely secured (3 strands of barbed wire around the perimeter)and 8 years after work began - work that was proposed to take 5 years from start to 'restoration'(RMC's idea of restoration being to allow the deep pits to fill with water)there is still an estimated 12 to 18 months of extraction left - before the so-called restoration plan begins. Traffic movement in the area has been increasing year on year - with self-employed haulage lorry drivers regularly flouting speed and other traffic restrictions due to their 'piece work payments' forcing them to try and make maximum deliveries daily - one local family, of a mother and her 2 young children on their way to school, nearly lost their lives 2 years ago after a collision with a speeding quarry truck. RMC do not propose to carry material between the 2 sites for processing - no - their proposal is for a nearly 2 kilometre open conveyor belt between, and across 3 villages in a place of rich agricultural lands, a delicate eco system in the valley between 2 rivers (The Arrow and The Avon)and an area rich with tourism and local history.
Here follows my statement to the local press as County Council Candidate for the Green Party:

The Green Party is totally opposed to any development such as this - the environmental impact is huge: sustained, immeasurable and untenable. The building industry as a whole should be encouraged to re-use and re-cycle building materials - not destroy, deplete and massacre the landscape in such an abhorrent way.
I have lived in Bidford for nearly 5 years - having moved my 2 young children away from London for a new life in the peace and tranquillity of the beautiful rural idyll of Bidford on Avon. I have thrown myself into the local community, my youngest daughter is at the village school, I've made many good friends, I attend the local church and have appeared in the enjoyable and successful village charity Pantomimes for the last 4 years. I very much enjoy picnics on the Big Meadow with my children during the summer, ALL of that would be put in jeopardy by this development. I was someone who attended the protest against the extension of the MRW waste re-processing site in the village - although I recognise that re-cycling is a vital part of a sustainable future - I also believe that care for people, especially in close proximity to re-cycling sites is important, especially where such proposals have not been prepared with care - which is why I opposed the extension of facilities at a site so close to the village centre - the Marriage Hill site which RMC are applying for permission to excavate is even closer to the village centre - the boundary of the site will be 30 feet from the boundary of the village cemetary - an outrage. There will be 2000 feet of perfect, unspoilt river frontage within metres of the quarrying and a 1 and a half kilometre (minimum) open convey belt running between the Bidford site and the Dunnington site. There is no guarantee that there will not be pollution of the river, and extraction of water from the river to run plant on the site, increasing the impact even further on the local eco-system than the plans already show. Removing a natural aquifier, as sand and gravel are, from such close proximity to a flood plane could have disastrous consequences over a much wider area. There are no guarantees that RMC's plans are acurate, and by the example of the Dunnington site - there is a very real fear that they will extend and increase, and flout rules and regulations to suit their own, and the building trade's voraciousness, lack of culpability and interest in sustainability.
These plans are an OUTRAGE, they have NO value to anyone, except RMC's directors and the owner of the land at the Marriage Hill site and I personally and as a candidate for the County Council Elections give my pledge to fight these plans with every fibre of my being.