Proposals
Crown Farm Quarry
Overview
The quarry currently covers approximately 135 hectares (333 acres) of land. Over 20 hectares (50 acres) of this is land known as the Crown Farm Nature Reserve, which is land that has already been quarried and then restored. The nature reserve is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, with funding from Tarmac, and is the site of frequent educational visits.
As shown on the image above, the extension scheme would include an area to the south and east within the wet working area and to the west to extract additional sand.
The extension scheme would also include a smaller extension to the area of dry working in the south-east part of the quarry, towards the A556.
The extension proposals would be worked within the currently permitted period up to 22 February 2042. Restoration works would also be completed within 12 months of the cessation of mineral extraction.
We are also proposing the installation of a high-voltage electricity supply for both the dredger and a number of plant items on site. This proposal will be beneficial in climate change terms, reducing hydrocarbon use with associated emissions from plant operating on site.
In addition to the further supply of a high quality of sand to markets of across Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Wales and beyond, the extension scheme will maintain over 20 full-time equivalent jobs on-site, along with providing opportunities for businesses, including local companies, to continue to supply goods and services to Crown Farm Quarry for the duration of mineral extraction and restoration.
The application we submit to Cheshire West and Chester Council will be accompanied by an Environmental Statement, summarising all of the environmental studies that have been undertaken and how they have fed into the design and mitigation measures including landscape and visual impact, biodiversity, air quality, and dust and transportation.
Dredging and Carbon Footprint
In early 2022 we introduced a sand dredger to our operations at Crown Farm. The dredger, although state of the art and computer and GPS enabled, works on quite a simple process of water circulation, where the sand and water within the lake Is sucked up by the dredger, with the sand sent to our washing plant for processing whilst the water is returned back into the lake.
This plant is much more efficient than the previous method of extraction which used excavators, and now enables the full depth of the sand deposit to be extracted.
An additional advantage of using the dredger is that we do not need to use as much mobile plant and machinery, such as dumpers and excavators, which use diesel to power them. The dredging operation is also very discreet and quiet. There are relatively few similar dredging operations in the UK and this method of extraction is more environmentally friendly, compared to more traditional sites.
We are currently in the process of installing a new high voltage electricity supply to power the dredger and the associated processing plants at the quarry which, using green energy, will provide a significant reduction to the quarry's carbon footprint.
Highways and access
The quarry entrance is off Stoneyford Lane. Heavy goods vehicles visiting the quarry will then use the A556 to transfer the processed sand products further afield.
Crown Farm Quarry’s permitted hours of quarrying operations, which includes the entering and leaving of heavy goods vehicles to and from the site, are 07:30 – 18:00 on Monday to Friday and 08:00 – 12:30 on Saturdays.
We are restricted in the number of HGV movements to and from the site to an average of 252 per day (126 in and 126 out).
We are not seeking to extend these hours or increase the number of vehicle movements within our planning application for the extension scheme.
A full transport assessment for the Extension Scheme is being prepared as part of the Environmental Statement which will accompany the planning application. Specifics that will be included this report include:
- Detail of the historic and proposed trip generation of the extension scheme including the average number of daily arrivals and departures of HGVs associated with the transportation of sand;
- Identification of the trip distribution of HGVs on the local highway network;
- Reference to an automatic traffic counts at locations, inclusive of speed, to the west and east of the existing site access location and of the Stoneyford Lane intersection with the A556; and
- Reference to road safety statistics for the local highway network.
Dust and noise mitigation
Dust
During the planning process, a full air quality and dust assessment will be undertaken and included in the Environmental Statement submitted with a planning application.
As part of these assessments, an inspection of the existing and proposed extension area at Crown Farm Quarry will be carried out to identify sensitive areas that have the potential to be impacted by the quarry extension scheme.
This assessment will also be informed by the results of the dust monitoring that has been undertaken at Crown Farm for many years.
Any additional control measures identified in these assessments will be included in the statement and recommended for implementation, to ensure the extension scheme has a negligible impact on levels of dust.
A significant proportion of the extension is proposed to the west of the site and will be wet extraction. This in and of itself will reduce any risk of dust.
Noise
Crown Farm Quarry has noise condition limits that have been set by previous planning permissions.
Over several years, regular noise monitoring surveys have been carried out by our specialists to check that the quarry remains complaint with these set noise condition limits.
A noise assessment of the extension scheme is being progressed and will be reported in the Environmental Statement. While we don’t expect there to be any real change in noise because of the proposed extension scheme, we will continue to use the same mitigation measures that are currently in operation. Any mitigation methods that are found to be needed in order to minimise any noise disruption will be included in this statement.