TWO activists fighting the proposals for Ding Quarry have urged the people of Norden to join their battle before official public consultation ends on Monday
Jason Addy and Nigel Morrell both made impassioned speeches against re-starting work at the Lanehead quarry at the Norden Community Association meeting on Tuesday night.
They told villagers that the bid by D P Williams (Holdings) Ltd, asking councillors to confirm the rules it must abide by to re-start mining at the site, could have a serious impact on their lives.
Stringent planning conditions imposed by the council ground an original scheme to a halt more than a decade ago.
But planning permission still exists from 1949.
Mr Addy, co-ordinator of the Save Spodden Valley campaign against development on the old Turner Brothers site, said the original application was to remove 45,000 tons of stone from the quarry.
He said the firm now wants to remove 750,000 tons over the next 30 years.
He said: “There are many parts of the application that don’t make sense and we will be challenging them.”
He said that because of traffic calming measures in the area, operational vehicles could be diverted through Caldershaw and it could impact on the area near Owd Betts in Edenfield Road.
Mr Addy warned that there could be a vehicle movement every two minutes, starting at 7am and finishing at 6pm, for 30 years and urged people to voice their opinions to the council before Monday.
He added: “This goes far beyond Nimbyism. It will affect people in Caldershaw and could affect people in Norden. We want a safe open access to the moors.”
Mr Morrell, a fellow Save Spodden Valley campaigner, who has also fought various development schemes in Norden, said: “This has been a hobby horse of mine through two or three campaigns in the village, at Greenbooth and Rainshore.
‘This will all add weight to the traffic through the village.”
Stephen Haslam, chairman of the Norden Community Association, said: “Get online, make a protest, get onto the planning department and state your objections.
“It’s up to you, folks, make your objections.”
A Norden resident added: “A lot of our children walk that route to school. The actual traffic volume is going to make it quite unsafe.”
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David Ireland, Lanehead (16/11/2007 at 11:01)
Think! This will affect you if your child attends one of the following schools - Bamford Primary, Caldershaw Primary, Norden Primary, Spotland Primary, St Michael’s CE Primary, St Vincent’s RC Primary and Oulder Hill Community School.
The Non Technical Summary states that the assessment has been based on 2,600 tonnes per day, which equates to 130 two-way trips during a full day. This means that each vehicle will leave the quarry every two minutes carrying 20 tonnes of stone Monday-Friday and Saturday morning.
It also goes on to say that the addition of the projected number of HGV’s will not have a significant impact on the performance of the existing highway network, either in terms of safety or capacity.
Do you really want this extra traffic when your children will be crossing streets walking to and from school and going to local shops.
If your feelings are strong enough about the danger to your children, sign the petition on www.dingquarry.co.uk or write to Rochdale MBC.
Stop Ding Quarry, Rochdale (17/11/2007 at 02:32)
HereHere (17/11/2007 at 15:21)
Typically the real problem with developments such as these and Rochdale seem to be first class at objecting in this way, the locals don't like other people having the initiative and drive to make money. Therefore the answer seems to be to disrupt other people's business as much as possible. This quarry will bring much needed work, just look at the number on the dole in Rochdale, it's high compared with other places.