'Lodge Farm Quarry Protest'

Summary of events to date.

Following an exchange of letters with Mark Chant of Northamptonshire County Council, Sustainable Resources, two of your committee members visited the Council offics on Friday to examine their files. Their report will be presented at the next meeting on Monday 29/11/04 in The Chapel. A copy of each of the two pages of the letter is here & here, with apologies for the poor image quality.

The first meeting of the action group took place in the Billiard Room, Welford Village Hall at 19:30 on Friday November 12th 2004, and a second on 22nd November 2004 in The Chapel. The minutes of the first meeting is available here, for further meetings these will be available shortly.

On Tuesday January 4th 2005 two members of the committee met with Phil Sawford, the Member of Parliament for Welford. Phil Sawford agreed to take the matter up with Northampton County Council and will seek advice about the status of the National Mineral Resources Policy from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. More detail is available in the current set of committee meeting minutes found here.

On Wednesday two of the committee members attended the initial procedures meeting in Northampton. Their report is also in the latest set of committee meeting minutes found here.

Parishioners may contact group members direct to discuss individual points, joining the group or simply offering support.

At an initial meeting in Welford Parish Church on November 4th 2004, some 300 Welford Parishioners and visitors from neighbouring villages heard of the proposed gravel extraction at Lodge Farm, Welford.

Chaired by John Frommont, Vice Chairman of Welford Parish Council, the assembly were told of the plan to extract 2.3 million tonnes of gravel from a site close to Lodge Farm and the county boundary. Concerns were expressed by members of the community and included reference to the following issues (in no particular order):

The official representation form: it is important that everyone uses this document to register a protest about the proposed quarry and that it gets to the address in Northampton before December 9th 2004. Click below for a downloadable copy.

There will be an effect on the water table which will fall and effect the moisture content of the surrounding land. This may take many years, and the level of water in the wells will also fall and deny supplies of naturally potable spring water to those who drink it and to local farmers who use this source for watering their cattle. The properties, including the village school, on the North-Western side of the village will be the most likely to be effected by subsidence due to the falling water table.

The access route - South Kilworth road from the A5199 down to the disused railway line - which will complete the proposed means of access, is not built to the required standard, is a known black spot with a history of accidents and at least one recent fatality. It was remarked by a local engineer that there is in truth no need to use a road to extract the gravel as the proposed works are within 150 meters of an existing quarry with the appropriate conveyor belting. If this is the case then the access road is purely for the refilling of the hole with waste. Despite misleading statements about what will go back into the enormous hole, it will be waste, and Welford is downwind of the site. From what was said at the meeting, the value of the hole is equal to or more than the value of the minerals extracted.

The workings will create dust, noise and vibration which will effect the village and the surrounding environment. There will be permanent damage to the local flora and fauna.

There will be an increase in airborne pollution which will be carried to the village by the prevailing wind. We can expect an increase in cases of breathing difficulties and allergies, especially amongst the young and elderly.

There will a be considerable increase in heavy vehicle traffic and there does not appear to be accurate and valid statistical information about where the traffic will be routed. It is clear that the physical restrictions of Welford High Street have not been taken into consideration.

There will be cumulative damage to the amenities surrounding the village. The view to the North West will change forever for us in Welford and perhaps even more dramatically for those in South Kilworth.

The First Deposit Draft Plan by Northampton County Council failed to make reference to the proposed quarry.

The neighbouring villages of Husbands Bosworth, South and North Kilworth in Leicestershire were not notified and heard about the plan first from Welford Parish Council.

There was a unanimous desire to fight the proposal and there will be a two tier structure consisting of Welford Parish Council and a fighting protest group formed from volunteers.

The enemy could be identified as being both the other communities with quarry proposals as well as the county council, but we should not fail to pressure Lafarge and to make the exercise as expensive as possible for them - please write to their Chairman to express your protest; his address is below.

A Campaign Committee has being formed to focus attention and to consolidate effort and resources.

Please email the campaign committee on lodgefarmprotest@welford.org to express an opinion, pledge support, offer some news or whatever.

LINKS:

Link to Northampton County Council's site on Mineral Extraction

Link to Northampton County Council's pages on the second draft

Link to Lafarge's website. The Chairman's name is there (write to him!) as is a reference to 'building a better world for our communities' There is also a link to the Leicester office in Syston, complete with phone numbers and a local website. Note Lafarge are also into waste management and have been the recipients of an award in 2003 for creating a wildlife haven in a former quarry in Lincolnshire.