COMMUNITY STANDS FIRM AGAINST PLANS TO TAKE A MILLION MORE TONNES FROM STANTON MOOR.

A coalition of local action groups (1) and landscape watchdog, Friends of the Peak District, today made a joint appeal to the Peak District National Park Authority to reject Stancliffe Stone’s application to extract 1 million tonnes of gritstone from Dale View Quarry

Whilst accepting the principle of extending working at Dale View in exchange for giving up quarrying rights at the nearby Endcliffe and Lees Cross Quarries on Stanton Moor, the protesters believe Stancliffe’s application does not represent a fair trade and the scale of the operation would be highly damaging to the unique character of the Moor.

Although 1 million tonnes is a move in the right direction it is still far too high to be an equitable exchange with Endcliffe and Lees Cross quarries, explains Geoff Henson of the Stanton Lees Action Group. At least two independent, mineral consultant firms were of the opinion that, under modern working conditions, only around 650,000 tonnes of workable stone could be extracted from Endcliffe and Lees Cross. Add to this the savings on the infrastructure/start up costs and you can see that Stancliffe Stone will be onto a certain winner if this application is accepted.

Andy Tickle, Head of Planning and Campaigns at Friends of the Peak District said, The coalition supports the principle of permission trading as long as the overall benefit lies clearly with the National Park. Extraction on this scale however does not and fails to fit the Authority’s own published priorities of ‘managing the reduction of large scale quarrying in the National Park'. We therefore urge the Authority’s members to have the patience to wait for the right deal that truly benefits the National Park and reject Stancliffe Stone’s application.

Local groups on the Moor have been working hard together to preserve Stanton's unique character and believe a better deal can be negotiated with Stancliffe Stone.

It is the local community that must tolerate the impact of the extended quarrying, the noise especially, so the Peak District National Park Authority must ensure that the land swap is minimised as far as possible to protect Stanton in the Peak from its effects, concludes Cllr Anne Zoyroydi of Stanton in Peak Parish Council. This shouldn’t be about expediency, because an oversized extension won’t be expedient for us. And remember, any land swap still means sacrificing local landscape. It is a compromise, not a perfect solution or a victory.

(1) Local groups campaigning to protect Stanton Moor include:

• SLAG (Stanton Lees Action Group)
• Stanton-in-Peak Parish Council
• SADE (Stanton Against the Destruction of the Environment)
• FPD (Friends of the Peak District)

Picture top left: Stanton Moor (aerial view)