QUARRY bosses are pressing ahead with plans to excavate a tract of the Suffolk countryside despite vehement local opposition.

Will Clarke

QUARRY bosses are pressing ahead with plans to excavate a tract of the Suffolk countryside despite vehement local opposition.

Brett Aggregates has appealed a decision rejecting their plans to dig for gravel deposits near Chilton, near Sudbury, and a fresh application was published yesterday.

Villagers close to the proposed Chilton quarry site had objected on the grounds of road safety, the impact of the additional lorries driving through their communities and the effect on the landscape.

Earlier this year, locals took to the roads to represent the additional number of vehicles expected to take to the A134 from the quarry.

But Mike Courts, general manager of Brett Aggregates, said the firm “ought” to be able to dig the controversial quarry because it had been named in the Suffolk County Council's mining and mineral plans as a potential site.

“We have lodged an appeal and we have resubmitted the application with a roundabout,” he said.

“It shows we have listened to people's concerns and it is up to the planning authority. The site has been subject to the consultation and an inquiry before it was made part of the local minerals plan in the late 1990s and ought to be given planning permission.”

But Peter Clifford, chairman of Chilton Parish Council, said the inclusion of the site gave Brett no automatic right to dig and he said the community was more determined than ever to resist a quarry.

“We still think this is a quarry in the wrong place - there is only access to the A134 and it is already very busy. We have had one fatality already this year. We will fight this quarry even more strongly this time.”

Michael Evans, chairman of the residents association in nearby Cornard Tye, said: “The roundabout doesn't make it any more acceptable - it will slow the traffic and force people to use rat runs around it. It may be slightly slower but it will still cause accidents.”

But Peter Beer, chairman of Great Cornard Parish Council, struck a more conciliatory note. He said: “A roundabout sounds like a step in the right direction - it is essential in view of all the accidents on that road.”