Holes equivalent to an area the size of Birmingham could puncture the heart of the English countryside if predicted demands for quarrying{1} are to be met over the next decade{2].

This is the warning issued by CPRE{3} today (Wednesday) with the publication of Extracting the Truth about Quarrying (see note below).  This CPRE report reveals hard-hitting facts about the damage minerals extraction could do to the countryside – unless the Government fulfils its promise to change its approach to minerals planning{4}, and seeks to maximise our use of recycled and alternative materials.

NOTES FOR EDITORS
Copies of Extracting the Truth about Quarrying are available free to the media and readers/viewers/ listeners by contacting CPRE Publications on 020 7981 2856.

Jill Hatcher, CPRE's Senior Natural Resources Campaigner, said:

'It is not just more unnecessary holes in the countryside that we have to worry about, and the landscape damage that entails.  Digging deep into the countryside brings disturbance to communities, chokes country lanes with noise and dust from lorries, and shatters rural tranquillity.'

Extracting the Truth about Quarrying reveals that:

• the amount of extraction would require the equivalent of 125 million trucks travelling around the country between 2001-2016; and
• many areas of countryside have already been earmarked for quarrying, with a staggering 5,776 million tonnes of new aggregates waiting to be dug.

Instead of planning to reduce the demand for minerals, the Government continues to pursue an out-dated approach of 'predict and provide'.  The Government's own plans for new 'sustainable communities'{5} alone ( which will bring large numbers of new houses,  as well as roads and flood defences in the South East ( could eat up vast amounts of material.  Its damaging road building proposals will mean more holes in the ground too.

The Government is soon to issue its flagship policy statement for minerals planning{6}.  CPRE is calling for a more intelligent and flexible approach to quarrying that:

• is environment-led, placing greater emphasis on meeting actual need, rather than relying on crude estimates of demand;
• encourages the replacement of newly quarried minerals with secondary or recycled aggregates, or alternative materials such as glass.  The Government should set far more ambitious targets for their use7;
• protects our most valued landscapes and countryside features from new quarrying, and minimises, reduces or removes the damaging impact of existing works; and
• recognises that minimising our consumption of quarried materials should be a key objective in building sustainable communities.

Jill Hatcher concluded:

'Meeting our construction needs should not compromise the character of the countryside, its tranquillity, ecology or heritage.  Some quarrying will continue, but it should not permanently scar our valued landscape.  We must dig less and plan better for quarrying in the countryside before it is too late ( because once our landscape is lost, it is gone forever.'

1. Aggregates include crushed rock, sand and gravel and are used in the construction industry for materials such as concrete, asphalt or as constructional fill or railway ballast.

2. The ODPM published guidelines for the provision of aggregate extraction for England on 11 June 2003.  These set the framework for the apportionment of minerals production between local mineral planning authorities, which are county councils or unitary authorities. The Government has outlined that such figures should be used to inform decision taking on planning applications for minerals extraction within those areas.  According to such figures, over 2.5 billion tonnes of aggregates could be required between now and 2016. 

If that 2.5 billion tonnes were to be dug from a quarry 5m deep (and presuming that 2 tonnes of aggregate can be extracted from every 1 cubic metre of quarried material), the area covered by such a quarry would be 265 km2 - the same area as Birmingham City.

3. CPRE exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country. We promote positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside to ensure change values its natural and built environment. Our Patron is Her Majesty The Queen. We have 59,000 supporters, a branch in every county, nine regional groups, over 200 local groups and a national office in London. CPRE is a powerful combination of effective local action and strong national campaigning. Our President is Sir Max Hastings.

4. In the Government's Rural White Paper, Our Countryside: The Future (2000), the Government said: 'we will issue new planning policy guidance on aggregates supply in 2001, with the aim of getting away from the present  mechanistic 'predict and provide' by making more realistic estimates of future requirements, and providing a greater opportunity for these estimates to be tested at local and regional level.  We also want to find better ways of ensuring that environmental issues are built into the decision taking' (RWP, page 109).

5. The Sustainable Communities Plan, Sustainable Communities: building for the future was launched on 5 February 2003.  It suggests that there is potential for 200,000 more houses in the wider South East up to 2016, in addition to the 39,000 per annum guide figure already contained in Regional Planning Guidance for the South East (2001).  These houses would be built in four designated growth areas.

6. New planning policy guidance for minerals is expected to be released for consultation early this year as the forthcoming Minerals Planning Statement No. 1.

7. The Government has proposed a target of 60 million tonnes of recycled/secondary materials in England by 2011.  This is 27% of expected total aggregates demand over this period.