Stanton Moor

Stanton Moor is a wonderful upland block, underlain by Millstone Grit, and circled by small villages (Stanton-in-Peak, Birchover and Stanton Lees). It encloses a Neolithic ritual landscape (nationally scheduled as an Ancient Monument) and beautiful heather moorland.

But the same gritstone that forms the acid soils for the heather, the stone circles that dot the moor, is also highly prized for building and decorative uses. Hence Stanton Moor is ringed by three working quarries (Birchover, Dale View and New Pilhough Quarries) and two currently disused extraction areas (Endcliffe and Lees Cross and Stanton Moor Quarries). Large lorries take stone from the sites, via unsuitable, narrow and steep roads which go right through the villages causing severe local disamenity.

An added problem is that many of the quarry permissions on the Moor are ‘old mineral permissions’ (OMPs) from the 1950s, issued just as the planning system had started. They allow for quarrying to continue almost in perpetuity (until 2042!) and the level of environmental control is minimal in comparison to modern standards. For example, at Birchover Quarry, there is no limit to the depth they can dig, the hours they work nor the number of lorries that travel to and from the site! In this day and age, this is clearly unacceptable. In 2006 Friends of the Peak District will be campaigning hard to ensure modern planning conditions are imposed at Birchover Quarry. Better controls do exist at Dale View and New Pilhough though there are concerns that the operators turn a blind eye to the official restrictions. However both the operators for these sites (Stancliffe Stone and Blockstone, respectively) are submitting extension application in 2006 and these are being viewed with great concern by the local community who are working closely with the Friends to protect Stanton Moor from any extra quarrying.

The disused sites at Endcliffe and Lees Cross Quarries (ELC) and Stanton Moor Quarry, which are both very close to the central, most sensitive part of the Moor, play a central role in the controversy. Again these are owned by Stancliffe Stone and Blockstone who believe both sites contain considerable quantities of valuable gritstone. This might be so in physical terms but the application of modern working conditions (given the environmental sensitivity of the sites) means that only a small proportion of this stone would be permitted to be extracted. Both operators have indicated that they are willing to relinquish these permissions in return for green field extensions at their Dale View and New Pilhough sites. In 2006, Blockstone have already made an application to extend New Pilhough – the new areas would yield some 450,000 extra tonnes in exchange for a similar claimed reserve at Stanton Moor. The Friends view this as excessive and will be campaigning for a better deal.

Similarly Stancliffe Stone claim that ELC would yield over 3 million tonnes if worked but now wish to exchange it for a smaller extension at Dale View. A full application is expected shortly. This follows on from aggressive court action by the company to prove that the ELC site was not legally ‘dormant’. The Friends, working with the Council for National Parks, helped in the initial stages of the case which was finally defeated in the Court of Appeal in June 2005.

Picture: Aerial View of Stanton Moor