Quarry expansion set to go ahead Government refuses to overrule council decision
By Jackie Kemp
THE SCOTTISH government has ruled out a last-minute intervention to stop the expansion of Europe's largest quarry, Glensanda.
Tomorrow Highland Council will formally approve the extraction of an additional 400 million tonnes of aggregate, making the superquarry one of the three or four largest in the world.
Campaigners had built their hopes on the SNP government preventing mountain tops being removed from Morvern and blasted into aggregate for building roads in the south of England.
The John Muir Trust, named after the pioneering conservationist, is backing locals who are "outraged" that no independent inquiry has been carried out into the expansion and that it has been left to the council to make a decision.
Helen McDade of the trust said: "This is a matter of national importance. It is not a local issue and it should not have been left to a local planning committee to decide. There is no doubt that the Scottish parliament should have looked at this. The long-term impact of this has not been adequately addressed. For instance it is not clear why they need this extension - at current rates of working they have 40 years of life left in the quarry."
The superquarry has been granted permission to expand its mining area by a third to more than two square kilometres. It has also been granted permission to remove a peak, the Mam, and Lochan Lag A Mhaim. The new mine workings will be visible from Morvern, Lismore, Mull, Oban, Benderloch, Port Appin, Lochaline and Gleann Geal and will have a "dramatic" impact on the skyline according to Dr Douglas Watt of Lochaline, who opposes the extension.
The quarry's new owner, Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of multinational Halcim, which acquired the site last year, has told industry magazine Mining Monthly that because of problems with expansion elsewhere it is planning to more than double annual production from seven million tonnes a year to nearer 15m tonnes. The firm says it plans to ship aggregate in specially designed ships to roadbuilders across the globe.
Jeremy Gilchrist, a campaigner from Lismore, said: "The quarry was started by a small company called Foster Yeoman. They only got permission to do this because they were going to be so careful.
"They made a hole in the rock and they were going to come down it, bringing rock out on the way. But now the argument is: Well, there is a big hole there anyway.'
"But the new plans change the way they are working, it is becoming more open cast. This is how they mine rock in America; they are going to take out a peak, lift off the top soil and all the flora and fauna in a whole area.
"Highland councillors didn't come here to look at what is here already or what is planned. The planning permission says the owners are going to restore it afterwards but that is ridiculous. How can they and how will Highland Council enforce that?"
Duncan Brooks, a crofter on Lismore, said: "This is such a remote area and there are so few people up here to protect it. I am very worried about the environmental impact. The huge tankers that arrive from Europe to load from the quarry pump millions of gallons of ballast water from entirely different oceans and with alien micro flora and fauna into the fragile narrows of Loch Linnhe.
"The run-off from the quarry is like porridge. You can put it in a jar and a month later it's not clear.
"This will destroy virgin wilderness and Scotland has given this the same amount of care and attention as they would an application to build half a dozen bungalows. It would never happen in the central belt."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "Officials wrote to Highland Council in October 2006 informing them that it was not Scottish ministers' intention to intervene in this application. The application was therefore cleared back to Highland Council for its own determination."
A spokesman for Aggregate Industries said: "We respect our neighbours and understand that a few individuals have shown some concern over the plans. However, we are grateful for the strong and positive relationship we have with the local community as a whole, who have been very supportive of our operations and extension application."
|
|
Posted by: Willie, West Dumbartonshire on 4:27am Sun 30 Sep 07
So at a time when we are supposed to be minimizing environmental impacts we give permission to quarry hundreds of millions of tonnes of rock from a remote Scottish Mountain for export for roadbuilding in the South of England and around the globe.
Bet the quarry operators would not have got permission to quarry a few hundred million tonnes out of the white cliffs of Dover.
Yes - next thing will be that we have a ready made dump for the south of England's waste. No - surely not no never?
So at a time when we are supposed to be minimizing environmental impacts we give permission to quarry hundreds of millions of tonnes of rock from a remote Scottish Mountain for export for roadbuilding in the South of England and around the globe.
Bet the quarry operators would not have got permission to quarry a few hundred million tonnes out of the white cliffs of Dover.
Yes - next thing will be that we have a ready made dump for the south of England's waste. No - surely not no never?
Posted by: Angie, Canada on 8:24am Sun 30 Sep 07
I can't believe it. I loathe senseless and needless destruction of our planet. I loathe the removing of mountain peaks, and the decimation of the land.
I saw a documentary about this type of thing happening in West Virginia and was appalled at how unconcerned about the environment these destructionists are.
And now beautiful Scotland is falling prey to greed.
Man, through greed, has caused so much destruction of our planet as to be criminal, and those who allow this devastation to occur, are equally to blame.
Put it back as it was? My God, do these money mad people think the world is gullible enough to swallow this crap?
I cannot believe that anyone in authority, be it government or council, would allow such a rape of the mountain and wilderness, and I cannot believe there is so little outrage about it.
I can't believe it. I loathe senseless and needless destruction of our planet. I loathe the removing of mountain peaks, and the decimation of the land.
I saw a documentary about this type of thing happening in West Virginia and was appalled at how unconcerned about the environment these destructionists are.
And now beautiful Scotland is falling prey to greed.
Man, through greed, has caused so much destruction of our planet as to be criminal, and those who allow this devastation to occur, are equally to blame.
Put it back as it was? My God, do these money mad people think the world is gullible enough to swallow this crap?
I cannot believe that anyone in authority, be it government or council, would allow such a rape of the mountain and wilderness, and I cannot believe there is so little outrage about it.
Posted by: matt, glasgow on 1:41pm Sun 30 Sep 07
another gillies hill,shame on the scottish goverment.
another gillies hill,shame on the scottish goverment.
Posted by: Alastair McIntosh on 10:41pm Sun 30 Sep 07
Expect more and more of this sort of foot in the door process as quarrying gets evicted from areas further to the south and landed on places that the industry takes to be suckers. When we fought the Harris superquarry, its supporters constantly held Glensanda up as an example of good practice. It may have been so, once upon a time, but as Holcim has demonstrated, predatory takeovers mean you never know who you are dealing with next.
By the way, after negotiating the final stage of Lafarge's pull-out from Harris, I agreed to sit, unpaid, on their Sustainability Stakeholders Panel. They have told me, several times now, that they had no intention of starting a quarry on Harris in the next 10-20 years, and even then the investment would have been such that it would have required a major decision. They just wanted it as a land bank. (To be fair to Lafarge, they acquired the Harris plans from Redland, but that wouldn't have helped those in the community hoping for jobs very greatly). It looks to me that Holicim is similarly securing a land bank in Scotland, and questions have to be asked as to who it is, and what interests, are permitting this to slip through. It is our children's future that is mortgaged when we allow our mountains to be topped to construct buildings that are rarely designed to last more than a few decades.
Expect more and more of this sort of foot in the door process as quarrying gets evicted from areas further to the south and landed on places that the industry takes to be suckers. When we fought the Harris superquarry, its supporters constantly held Glensanda up as an example of good practice. It may have been so, once upon a time, but as Holcim has demonstrated, predatory takeovers mean you never know who you are dealing with next.
By the way, after negotiating the final stage of Lafarge's pull-out from Harris, I agreed to sit, unpaid, on their Sustainability Stakeholders Panel. They have told me, several times now, that they had no intention of starting a quarry on Harris in the next 10-20 years, and even then the investment would have been such that it would have required a major decision. They just wanted it as a land bank. (To be fair to Lafarge, they acquired the Harris plans from Redland, but that wouldn't have helped those in the community hoping for jobs very greatly). It looks to me that Holicim is similarly securing a land bank in Scotland, and questions have to be asked as to who it is, and what interests, are permitting this to slip through. It is our children's future that is mortgaged when we allow our mountains to be topped to construct buildings that are rarely designed to last more than a few decades.
Posted by: Simon Lewis, NW coast of Lismore - opposite the quarry on 1:28pm Mon 1 Oct 07
As others have said this is a truly shocking failure of government at local and national level to properly examine the enviornmental impacts of Holcim's operation at Glensanda - or to hold them to past enviornmental commitments before allowing them to almost double their operation in Morven. I attented the planning meeting last year in Inverness when a bunch of completely ill-informed and thoroughly dis-interested councillors casually sweept the appication through as if it had no more impact than a small loft conversion in an Inverness suburb.
Last night, with still weather, the sound of the quarry working was loud across loch linnhe throughout the night, with sirens and claxons sounding in regular bursts, and light pollution pouring into the night sky. The noise was audible in the croft house and we got little sleep - and this is a common occurance that can only increase with this expansion.
Nearby mainland qaurries such as that at Benderloch (under Argyll and Bute planning)are obliged to cease operations over night, to minimise their impact on local people and the natural enviornment. But Holcim can loudly quarry, crush rock, blow dust into the sky, and load ships 24/7.
Under the inadequate scrutiny and control of Highland Council, and with the indifference of the Scottish government, the new multinational owners of Glensanda look set to maximise their negative impacts on both local people and the ewnvironment.
If not our elected leaders in local and national government, who will stand up for Scotland's most prescious asset - its scenic beauty and pristine enviornment? Swiss based multinational Holcim?
As others have said this is a truly shocking failure of government at local and national level to properly examine the enviornmental impacts of Holcim's operation at Glensanda - or to hold them to past enviornmental commitments before allowing them to almost double their operation in Morven. I attented the planning meeting last year in Inverness when a bunch of completely ill-informed and thoroughly dis-interested councillors casually sweept the appication through as if it had no more impact than a small loft conversion in an Inverness suburb.
Last night, with still weather, the sound of the quarry working was loud across loch linnhe throughout the night, with sirens and claxons sounding in regular bursts, and light pollution pouring into the night sky. The noise was audible in the croft house and we got little sleep - and this is a common occurance that can only increase with this expansion.
Nearby mainland qaurries such as that at Benderloch (under Argyll and Bute planning)are obliged to cease operations over night, to minimise their impact on local people and the natural enviornment. But Holcim can loudly quarry, crush rock, blow dust into the sky, and load ships 24/7.
Under the inadequate scrutiny and control of Highland Council, and with the indifference of the Scottish government, the new multinational owners of Glensanda look set to maximise their negative impacts on both local people and the ewnvironment.
If not our elected leaders in local and national government, who will stand up for Scotland's most prescious asset - its scenic beauty and pristine enviornment? Swiss based multinational Holcim?
Posted by: Angie Tibbs, Canada on 5:48am Sun 7 Oct 07
Thank you, Mr. Lewis and Mr. McIntosh for your further comments on this unspeakable descretation of Scotland's beautiful and scenic majesty.
For government to sit idly by and allow this 24 hour a day operation to continue is beyond belief. It indicates that the only thought on the minds of these councillors is the almighty profits, and it also sadly indicates that the people who live in the area are of no consequence. How tragic is that?
I can't believe the stillness of a Scotland night is allowed to be so rudely destroyed by ongoing quarry operations. What effect has this had on the area, itself? What about any wildlife? What about plant life? I shudder to think of the lasting legacy of this monumental destruction.
Allowing a company to come into an area and destroy it is bad enough, but to allow said company to do whatever it wishes with no scrutiny and no supervision is sinful.
Mr. Lewis, I sincerely sympathize with you. How dreadful it must be to have this ungodly racket going on night after night.
Is there anyone you can approach? Anyone who can make this go away? Surely God somebody in Scotland politics cares about the environment and the destruction of same? Surely someone cares enough to make it stop? I don't even live in Scotland, and I am heartsick to think of even an inch of it being wantonly destroyed for greed.
Thank you, Mr. Lewis and Mr. McIntosh for your further comments on this unspeakable descretation of Scotland's beautiful and scenic majesty.
For government to sit idly by and allow this 24 hour a day operation to continue is beyond belief. It indicates that the only thought on the minds of these councillors is the almighty profits, and it also sadly indicates that the people who live in the area are of no consequence. How tragic is that?
I can't believe the stillness of a Scotland night is allowed to be so rudely destroyed by ongoing quarry operations. What effect has this had on the area, itself? What about any wildlife? What about plant life? I shudder to think of the lasting legacy of this monumental destruction.
Allowing a company to come into an area and destroy it is bad enough, but to allow said company to do whatever it wishes with no scrutiny and no supervision is sinful.
Mr. Lewis, I sincerely sympathize with you. How dreadful it must be to have this ungodly racket going on night after night.
Is there anyone you can approach? Anyone who can make this go away? Surely God somebody in Scotland politics cares about the environment and the destruction of same? Surely someone cares enough to make it stop? I don't even live in Scotland, and I am heartsick to think of even an inch of it being wantonly destroyed for greed.
Comment | Read Comments (6)
Print this story
Email to a friend
