Ding Quarry - packed public meeting

Councillor Elwyn Watkins flanked by Ding Quarry Action Group Chairman Dave Thomas (left) and Council Officers Ken Smith and Alan Whale (right)

3 More Image(s) In Gallery

A packed public meeting with standing room only in the Horners Suite at Rochdale AFC  saw speaker after speaker from the floor vent their anger and frustration over the application by D P Williams (Holding) Ltd to re-open Ding Quarry. Head of Council Planning, Ken Smith did his best to explain that the Council cannot deny the right to recommence mineral extraction at the Quarry, as the applicants have valid planning permission to do so, but this was not what residents wanted to hear and Mr Smith was constantly assailed with questions about why the council could not deny the application.

The meeting, organised by Councillor Elwyn Watkins and the Ding Quarry Action Group, was opened by Councillor Watkins and Action Group Chairman Dave Thomas, a barrister who lives on Rooley Moor Road, who passed over to Ken Smith to explain the background to the application.

Mr Smith explained that planning permission granted in 1949 was still valid and that tied the Council’s hands. The applicants have submitted a scheme of working conditions and the Council can only decide if those conditions are acceptable and if not then to impose their own conditions, however, these must be for valid legal reasons as the applicants have the right of appeal to the Secretary of State.

Mr Smith went on to explain that the Council was awaiting replies from a number of expert bodies it was consulting and until it receives answers from those bodies it cannot make a decision.

Questioned on whether the Council had all the information it needed from the applicants, Mr Smith indicated the Council had not, which prompted incredulity that the Council could be forced, due to time constraints (a decision legally must be made by 11 January), to make a decision without adequate information.

Mr Smith explained that the Council are seeking clarification of legislation because there was some confusion as to whether the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations contradicted the three month time limit on the council making a decision.

Answering a number of questioners, Mr Smith said that there was no expiry date on the original 1949 planning permission when it was granted and that the site boundaries were quite wide; he went on to say that the application was within those boundaries and that the applicants had suggested 35 years as a working time period and intended to extract 750,000 tonnes of stone ndash; this compared to the original permission which was set at 50,000 tonne. ldquo;The Local Authority now has to decide what it considers to be a reasonable limit bearing in mind amongst other planning issues, health and safety, infrastructure and ecological matters”, he said.

A representative of Rochdale Borough Bridleways spoke of her very serious concern for the safety of horse riders, she said the road to Ding Quarry was part of the Mary Townley Bridleway and it would be almost impossible for 20 tonne lorries to share the narrow road with horse riders.

Many residents aired concern over potential damage to their properties, a very real fear given some properties are a matter of yards from where the applicants intend hundreds of heavy laden vehicle movements per day to pass by, one woman explaining she had already had to have her cellar reinforced and said there was no way it could withstand ldquo;200 lorries passing a day”. Though Mr Smith could only encourage people to write in with such objections for Highways Engineers to consider, Ding Quarry Chairman Mr Thomas did give a glimmer of one avenue of hope open to residents when he explained that there had been successful actions for ldquo;blight” against companies whose lorries had caused damage to properties.

Another speaker shared his frustration that his house sale had fallen through due to the application, and this just one week before he was due to move. Again the Council Officers at the top table sympathised but explained there was nothing they could do other than look at imposing conditions on legal grounds.

Jason Addy, coordinator of the Save Spodden Valley (SSV) campaign, explained that the Council Officer’s hands were tied and they had to be careful what they said did not prejudice a decision, but he did not have to be so circumspect. He  spoke offering unqualified support to the Ding Quarry Action Group. He said: SSV will back the Ding Action Group and quot;use the law to fight this application”. He was scathing about the Environmental Impact Assessment submitted by the applicants saying it has ldquo;more holes than Swiss cheese!”

To rapturous applause he made a passionate appeal for ldquo;people power” which he said had shown back in the 1995 Ding Quarry campaign and in the more recent fight against MMC Estates developing the old Turner Brothers Asbestos site an effective tool in overturning the seemingly impossible.

Councillors from all three political parties were present, though some had to remain silent due to being members of the planning and regulatory committees that will ultimately make the decision on the conditions to be imposed. Leader of the Council Alan Taylor, who pointed to what opposition to the TBA application had achieved, MP Paul Rowen, and Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Rochdale Simon Danczuk all attended.

Conservative Councillor Ann Metcalfe welcomed the cross party support for the Action Group and urged people to write into the council with their local knowledge, which she said was vital if council officers are to be able to impose ldquo;hard conditions that make lsquo;them’ go away”.

Paul Rowen also received a round of applause when he said he would do everything within his power, including talking to government minsters, to support the campaigners. He said the re-opening of the quarry would ldquo;affect huge areas of Rochdale”, not just the communities on Rooley Moor Road and Ings Lane. He accused DP Williams of not caring about the town saying they just wanted a ldquo;quick buck” but he was ldquo;resolute” that, with the help of local knowledge, conditions that would be so onerous as to make the quarrying economically unviable could be imposed, but he did caution that it was vital that conditions imposed could stand up to the scrutiny of an appeal and a possible public enquiry.

A passionate and at times verging on volatile meeting closed with Chairman of Ding Quarry Action Group Dave Thomas reiterating the need for support from members of the public, urging them to write to the council and sign the petitions on Rochdale Online and in the Rochdale Observer, he said it was only with such support that ldquo;we can stop this insane plan”.

• www.dingquarry.co.uk/sign-the-petition.asp