PORTLAND councillor Paul Kimber claims that muck from quarry vehicles has upset residents in recent weeks.

The Dorset Council member says dirt and stone chippings have been spread wide across the area with complaints from residents in Grove Road, Easton and elsewhere.

He told this week’s Cabinet meeting that it seemed incredible that there appeared to be no compulsion to drive vehicles through a wheel wash before leaving the new quarry off Grove Field and said he had been told that the council is powerless to regulate the activities because the planning consents granted in 1951 made no provision to do so.

“That can’t be right in 2023,” said Cllr Kimber.

“I want the companies to act more responsibly and clear up the mess they cause…people should come before profit,” he said.

Portfolio holder for planning Cllr David Walsh said that council restrictions on quarry activities were very limited because of the 1951 consent.

He told councillors that a contractor had been sweeping the roads, although with ‘mixed success’, depending on the weather.

Cllr Walsh said that most of the complaints seemed to relate to lorry movements as part of the creation of a deep water berth area at Portland Port which had now come to an end.

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