The quarry at Olives Farm is back on the agenda. According to Hertfordshire County Council’s new draft plan, the so-called Briggens Estate site will be the number one site for minerals extraction in Hertfordshire.
Known as the Hertfordshire County Council Draft Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2040, the proposal is out for consultation now, and the consultation period ends on October 31, 2022.
There will be another stage in the process next year when the Plan is examined in public but if it is approved and adopted following this, the quarry effectively will have planning consent, with just the operational details to settle. At this point it will be too late to stop it.
So we must act now to stop this madness.
Landowners City & Provincial and prospective developers Tarmac are on a mission to get rich at our expense and destroy our beautiful countryside. They claim they will restore the land and even ‘enhance it’, but not before up to 30 years of extraction and land-fill operations. That means noise, dust, water, fumes and light pollution, along with over 400 heavy lorries using the A414 every single day.
A large attractive swathe of our countryside will be gone. With it goes the wildlife and the open cherished views for local residents, as well as those who use the footpaths and bridleways. The quarry at Olives Farm will close the gap between Stanstead Abbotts and the new Gilston Area villages, leading to pressure for more housing down the line. It’s the last piece of our shrinking Green Belt.
Unbelievably, the new Draft Plan fails to properly assess the impacts on Village 7 of the Gilston Area which is adjacent to the quarry. Over 3,000 people will be living next door to this industrial site for 30 years.
What’s more, there’s no guarantee that any of the gravel and sand will end up being used in construction in Hertfordshire itself, because access to and from the quarry is restricted to the east on the A414. So our own council is proposing to destroy our lovely countryside just to supply minerals to Essex and beyond.
You can read the draft plan and its supporting documents here or by Googling ‘Hertfordshire Draft Minerals and Waste Local Plan’. You can respond directly online or download a form and respond by post
Hunsdon Parish Council will be submitting a comprehensive response. We will pick the key issues and publish details online to help anyone wishing to respond.Our next Parish Council meeting will be on October 17. There will be an open meeting at 7:30 pm on the Minerals and Waste Plan and the PC meeting will follow at 8:30pm.
One response
I’m not sure how this will affect me and many people in the town. Your right when you say they will build more house on the site when they are finished with it , please keep me informed