
Protest mounts against plans for damaging super quarry
Over 70 people joined a protest wildlife walk on Saturday 11th March against Hanson’s plans for a highly damaging new super quarry. Somerset County Council’s
We are the Stop Hanson Expansion at Westdown Quarry (SHEWQ) campaign group. Local residents and business owners, nature conservationists, young and old, we’re all banding together to stop Hanson’s plans for a new “super quarry” in the Mendips, Somerset.
Westdown Quarry, near Nunney, has been disused for nearly 40 years and is right next door to the ancient Asham Wood in the Mendips – a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation.
In May 2021, Hanson submitted planning applications to Somerset County Council to ‘re-open’, but in reality significantly expand, the quarry onto over 100 acres of farmland. The total application area for extraction is 168 acres The plans also include dumping oolite waste from this land into the old Asham quarry, the 79-acre Asham Void, burying 33 years of natural regeneration.
A new super quarry at Westdown would be a massive industrial project. There are already four quarries nearby, including Whatley and Torr super quarries. Somerset County Council has approved two quarry planning applications and there are two more applications in the pipeline over the next two years. The cumulative effects on local people and the environment would be huge.
So far, there have been over 500 objections to the plans including from Somerset Ecology Services (Somerset County Council’s own ecology team), Natural England and Somerset Wildlife Trust.
Over 2000 people have signed a petition but we need your help to reach over 5000.
But there’s more to do
Hanson’s application is set to go to Somerset County Council’s Regulation Committee later this year.
Over 70 people joined a protest wildlife walk on Saturday 11th March against Hanson’s plans for a highly damaging new super quarry. Somerset County Council’s
The Environment Agency, Natural England, Somerset County Council’s own ecology experts (Somerset Ecology Services) and Somerset Wildlife Trust have all objected for a second time
30 May 2022 Local people opposed to the reopening and expansion of a mega quarry next door to the ancient Asham Wood in the Mendips