Nottinghamshire County Council’s planning committee will convene next week to decide on whether the quarry, on land in Barton-in-Fabis can go ahead.
A group of at least 75 locals, alongside applicants Land Logical Ltd, are planning to be at the planning meeting.
The proposal from the applicants is that the quarry will be in operation for 12 years, with the land where it is located ‘restored’ over a 30-year period afterwards.
Key ecological areas would be “protected and actively managed to support wildlife,” say the developers.
Joan, 77, and her husband Colin, 81, will be two of the locals attending tomorrow’s meeting, as will Mary Brimelow, who’s 87.
“The dust from the processing plant and from the lorry traffic will blow directly to us,” says Mary. “We are terrified. Just absolutely terrified.”
Land Logical Ltd says that air quality “will be managed through numerous on-site control measures.”
Mary, Joan and Colin are three of around 400 retirees who live at Lark Hill Retirement Village in Clifton, just 250m away from the site of the proposed quarry.
• Rushcliffe Borough Council maintains objection to Barton in Fabis green belt quarry plans
“It’ll affect our lives tremendously,” said Mary. “Frankly, I would not have moved here if I’d have known about it. It’s like a death knell.”
Over the A453 from Lark Hill is Barton-in-Fabis, an isolated parish of around 250 people.
Mum-of-two Lucy Pollock has lived in Barton for ten years.
She says she hasn’t thought about the eventuality that the plans get voted through.
“I think my brain’s stopping me because I can’t really cope with the idea of that,” she says. “I’m beginning to appreciate that it is a possibility. But there’s a decent side of me that thinks surely it won’t. I just can’t get my head around it. It feels ludicrous to think it would.”
“This is a special place. It’s absolutely beautiful and so serene. The woods are ancient. I run through it, walk the dog through it and the kids and I cycle through it. The river blocks the noise from the A453.
“It really bothers me to think that could be destroyed for something that will not even last for that long and will never go back to how it is now.”
Resident Lisa Vrtilka said:
“I just can’t fathom it, it seems like a senseless thing. Irrelevant and pointless. I’m trying not to think of it being approved. It’ll get me down. But if it is approved, this won’t be the end of it.”
Last week, documents were released online that show that the county council’s planning officers – the staff who assess the plans for viability and feasibility – have recommended that the planning committee – made up of councillors – approve the plans.
On Tuesday, the councillors will hear from a campaigner, the local ward councillor Rex Walker, and Lark Hill resident Sheila Eaton – all of whom are against the idea.
In total, more than 1,300 people – including local MP James Naish and Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood – have sent the council official objections to the plans online.
“It’s not a question of: ‘Not in our back yard,’’ says Sheila, who is in her nineties, but is still fighting the plans. “It’s a bigger issue. It’s people’s health. People’s life.”
Sheila, who has lived at Lark Hill for five years, was a big part of the campaign to stop the previous application, which was withdrawn in 2022.
“They said they would try again,” she explains. “We feel at Lark Hill, we don’t exist to them. They don’t see it’s a problem for them. It’s the noise, the traffic and the dust. It’s a big, big danger and it beggars belief.”
The site is part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s ‘Minerals Plan’ – a document the government asks local councils to draw up to show where important materials, such as sand and gravel, can be extracted from.
Peter Hewlett, who has lived in Barton for nearly half a century, is hoping that the plan is scrapped when it is next up for renewal.
“It’s out of date and it’s a nonsense,” says the 75-year-old. “It’s like a survivor of wartime planning. We don’t have a timber plan or a plan for tiles. Gravel is traded everywhere. If we’re short here, there’s a quarry just down the road on Junction 24.
“On Tuesday, we’ll see if the councillors remember that they came into politics to work for people and not against them. This would trample all over people’s lives. And there’s no need for it.”
• All you need to know: Barton in Fabis quarry plans, opposition and next steps
Amongst the hundreds who’ve been involved with the latest campaign to stop the quarry, feelings are mixed about Tuesday’s meeting.
“I’m anxious but positive,” says Joan. “You have to stay positive. Because we’ve cried hours. And if they do approve it, it’ll finish us.”
Land Logical Ltd was approached for comment in advance of publication of this story, but said it would not be commenting further until after the decision hearing.
