Minerals

Markfield Parish Neighbourhood Plan: Referendum Version

1. Deliver local employment opportunities or support and diversify the rural economy; 2. Where possible, re-use existing buildings or re-develop existing and former employment sites and commercial premises; 3. Comprise well designed new buildings of a size and quality to cater for the identified needs of the existing business; and 4. Help meet modern business requirements. Minerals

7.18. Quarries are an important feature of the local landscape and source of local employment. Two of Leicestershire’s four igneous rock extraction quarries either abut or are partially within Markfield parish. In recent years, the four active igneous rock quarries together have produced around 11 million tonnes per annum, accounting for a contribution of around 60% of the igneous rock output in England. 7.19. The importance and current distribution of Leicestershire’s igneous rock means that it is likely that the County’s quarries will continue to supply major infrastructure both in the East Midlands and elsewhere in England. 7.20. Locally, the active quarries have been a source of concern in terms of noise, dust and vibration from blasting. 30% of respondents to our 2019 Questionnaire survey were affected by quarry blasting and 17% by quarry dust.

Markfield Quarry 7.21. Markfield Quarry (Hill Hole) was active in 1830 and large-scale extraction began in 1852. By 1863, Ellis and Everard who operated it employed 90 men. Quarrying ended about the turn of the century and it is now a Nature Reserve owned by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Some of the granite was used for curbstones, setts and building but a lot went for roadstone. The rock is Markfieldite and the quarry is the type-locality for this igneous intrusion. Cliffe Hill Quarry 7.22. Quarrying has been carried out at Cliffe Hill for more than 100 years. It became a large-scale producer of aggregates in the 1940s. The site adjoins the Neighbourhood Area to the west. The quarry produces crushed granite products used in road, rail and general construction projects. Approximately one third of production is exported by train via a dedicated rail siding. The site employs over 120 people plus many more in the wider supply chain. 7.23. The site comprises two separate quarries: Old Cliffe Hill Quarry and New Cliffe Hill Quarry; lying to the west and east of Stanton under Bardon respectively. The two quarries are linked by a 750m long tunnel under the village. Aggregate processing, lorry and rail wagon loading and the main quarry offices are all based in New Cliffe Hill. Mineral extraction only takes

Markfield Parish Neighbourhood Plan: Referendum Version

place in Old Cliffe Hill with all the rock transported to New Cliffe Hill on a conveyor running through the tunnel. 7.24. Midland Quarry Products is proposing to submit a planning application to Leicestershire County Council to secure additional rock reserves at Old Cliffe Hill Quarry. The quarry’s current reserves will only last until about 2027, so are proposing an eastern extension to secure production until 2040. Whereas the currently Old Cliffe Hill Quarry abuts the parish boundary, the proposed extension, onto land between Cliffe Lane and the M1 would be within Markfield parish. The proposals will require the diversion of public footpath R100 which could provide an opportunity to reclassify the route as a bridleway. Bardon Hill Quarry 7.25. Bardon Hill Quarry has been operated for over 400 years and produces three million tonnes of rock a year, 15% of UK output. The site is operated by Aggregate Industries and straddles the northern boundary of the Neighbourhood Plan area, west of the M1, near Copt Oak. The quarry supplies crushed rock aggregate of varying types, ranging from general purpose aggregate suitable for a wide range of end-uses including concrete production, to higher specification end-uses such as rail ballast and skidresistant road surfacing.

FIGURE 19: BARDON HILL QUARRY