What is the solution?

England can meet its construction needs – be it for houses, roads, railways or other development – without compromising the character, beauty and tranquillity of the countryside. We need to use quarried material more efficiently, make greater use of alternatives and generate less waste in construction.

CPRE is not aiming to stop quarrying altogether; we want to instead ensure that resources are used wisely and that the cultural and natural assets of the countryside are protected.

For that to happen, the Government needs to move to a more considered and flexible approach to minerals planning that:

• is environment-led and doesn't rely on crude estimates of demand to determine quarrying targets
• promotes the greater use of recycled and secondary materials as alternatives to quarrying, for which there is far greater potential than is currently used
• seeks to protect the countryside from new quarrying, and reduces or removes the damaging impact of existing works
• reviews our consumption of quarried materials with a view to reducing it in the first place