CAMPAIGNERS are today celebrating after plans for a controversial sand and gravel quarry were turned down - for the second time.

Dave Gooderham

CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating after plans for a controversial sand and gravel quarry were turned down - for the second time.

Suffolk County Council's development committee agreed with more than 200 letters from opponents to the scheme and a petition which called for the application for land at Chilton, near Sudbury, to be rejected.

Despite applicants Brett Aggregates changing the plans, which were originally refused by the same committee in March, to include a roundabout, county councillors felt the road safety implications for the A134 close to the quarry site - already a recognised accident blackspot - were too serious.

The council was inundated with letters of objection about the proposal from residents, police, numerous local councils and preservation watchdogs. During the meeting Richard Kemp, a member of the committee, said the quarry would be a “scar on the countryside”.

Speaking after the meeting, a jubilant Peter Clifford, chairman of Chilton Parish Council, said: “We are very pleased with the result and pleased that the county council has shown common sense and democratically supported all the objections.”

The decision went against the recommendation of the council's own officers.