Plan to restart blasting at Leicestershire quarry revealed

A plan to restart blasting at a Leicestershire quarry has been revealed. Extraction at Croft Quarry, in the village’s Coventry Road, ceased in 2022 as it was considered “uneconomical” at the time, documents submitted to Leicestershire County Council state.

However, an application has been submitted to the authority which sets out Aggregate Industries UK Ltd’s intention to start extracting materials from a new area of the site. The rock would be worked via blasting, the documents add.

If planning permission is approved for the scheme, the quarrying would start 10 years later. Aggregate Industries is looking to use the intervening years to fill the area previously excavated, according to the documents. This would be landscaped, with a mix of grassland, woodland and water features created, the paperwork adds.

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The plan is similar to one approved in 2022 for the site. The key changes between the previous and current proposals is the delay in starting quarrying the new area of the site, and for expanded recycling operations on site to include working with non-hazardous soils.

The concrete block plant and ready-mix concrete plant already on the land would continue to be used for nine years if the plan is approved, before being relocated to allow excavation to start where they currently sit. An asphalt manufacturing plant is also currently part of operations at the quarry. Again, this would be retained for nine years, but then would be permanently removed, application states.

Documents suggest much of the moving of materials to and from the site would be via railways, and a “rail handling building” is also proposed to be built. Train operations would be 24/7, with two to four trains arriving at the quarry each day under the plans.

Extraction would take place between 6am and 10pm Monday to Saturday, according to the application. No quarrying would be allowed on Sundays or bank holidays. However, the manufacturing of concrete products at the is proposed to also be 24/7.

The operations across the site are expected to generate around 192 two-way heavy goods vehicle (HGV) trips a day, if the plan is approved.

Members of the public are currently able to view and comment on the plan online. However, no date has been given by the county council for the consultation’s end date or for when a decision can be expected to be made.