Waste to be transported by ‘thousands of HGV movements’ if Shawell quarry re-development goes ahead
Plans to redevelop a quarry in a Leicestershire village would increase the number of lorries visiting the site to previous levels, a meeting has been told.
Plans submitted to Leicestershire County Council by Tarmac Aggregates Limited for Shawell Quarry in Gibbet Lane, Shawell, state that the development comprises 11 parts.
These include a facility to convert non-recyclable waste into sustainable fuel, an aggregate waste plant that will process construction and demolition waste, a ready-mix concrete plant, a commercial solar farm, a giant battery energy storage system (BESS), and renewable natural gas/electric vehicle fuelling infrastructure.
Demolition of existing structures is also included in the plans.
Tarmac notes that the 145.8-hectare site forms part of a wider historic quarry dating back to the 1950s, and that works on the site currently focus on landfill and ongoing restoration.
Residents in Shawell met to discuss the plans, noting that the presence of HGVs had begun to decrease as sand and gravel reserves were being exhausted.
However, concerns were raised that this application would increase the number of HGVs again, “up to their previous levels and beyond, by bringing waste from distant locations by thousands of HGV movements, only to ship the majority of it away again in thousands more HGV movements”.
Notes from the meeting raise concerns about the Gibbet Hill roundabout, which would form part of the main route for HGVs entering the area. They add: “National Highways have accepted that Gibbet Roundabout has been at full capacity for a number of years.
“They have accepted that this has resulted in Shawell Village lanes being used as relief roads for Gibbet Roundabout congestion”, and noted that the transport assessment for a proposed warehouse on Gibbet Lane “indicates worse queuing, diverting further traffic through the village with extreme consequences”.
Speaking to the local democracy service, Simon Moore, chair of the Shawell Parish Meeting, said: “The sand and gravel extraction has ceased because there are no economically viable minerals left, and as part of [the developer’s] original permission, they were required to put it all back and restore the land they’ve been taking the minerals from for the last 60-odd years.
“This proposal seeks to extend the site as an industrial facility. Obviously, as far as the residents are concerned, it’s not acceptable.
“When you look at the application, you can see that they’re proposing to transport hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste into the plant, which is going to be recycled. Of the 100 per cent that comes in, 90 per cent of it gets transported away, and the rest goes into landfill.
“They have restored a lot of the land that they’ve used, but what they’re proposing is going to industrialise all that land again.
“[National Highways] is currently consulting on the Gibbet Hill roundabout, which is part of the key route for these HGVs getting into and out of the site. It gets very congested at peak times.
“You have long queues of traffic going onto the roundabout on the A5 north and the A426 coming from Lutterworth, and what happens is that sat navs of people that are in these queues divert through the country roads and the village.
“There’s a 20 mph speed limit through the village, but obviously, cars that are trying to avoid traffic jams don’t tend to observe those speed limits.”
No decision date is currently listed on Leicestershire County Council’s planning portal.