Planning chiefs have slammed a proposal to open a up a massive quarry on land surrounded by several Broadland villages.

Tarmac wants to extract and process sand and gravel, plus manufacture ready-mixed concrete, on a 106-hectare site off Norwich Road, Horstead. Norfolk County Council is expected to take the final decision on this quarry in the autumn. Broadland District Council has been asked for its views on the plans prior to the decision. Broadland's planning committee met yesterday to discuss the issue, and it was agreed to send a strong objection to County Hall.

About 7.5million tonnes of sand and gravel is expected to be removed from the site over the next 20 years. Alan Mallett, Broadland councillor for Coltishall, told the committee that this was one of the most "momentous" planning applications that the council had ever seen. He said Tarmac had organised an exhibition in Horstead which explained what the company would do with the site and how it would be restored back to agricultural land and woodland.

"At the moment it is a very pleasant landscape and in 20 years or so it will be again," he said. "But with the best intentions in the world, if you are digging up sand and gravel there's going to be dust that will be carried by the wind." He added that there would also be considerable problems from noise and from the extra traffic generated by the quarry.

Fellow committee member Shirley Peters said she felt the surrounding Villages would be badly affected by dust and sand. "Dust being whipped up by the wind will be a problem," she said. "We must resist this proposal."

From an article in Evening News, Thursday, 20th June 2002