DAME Judi Dench has added her voice to those of campaigners fighting plans for a quarry near Barford – due to a very personal connection.
Smiths Concrete has applied to extract sand and gravel from the 220-acre Wasperton Farm site next to the A429 over a period of 15 years, and the firm has to submit further information required by Warwickshire County Council relating to environmental matters, among others, before the end of next March.
A second consultation will open a narrow window when objections can be submitted to WCC. At that point, everyone who will potentially be affected, from residents to users of the surrounding road network, will have three weeks to voice their objections.
And to support their fight, anti-quarry campaigners have made an eight-minute film, featuring an introduction by Dame Judi, highlighting reasons why the quarry is not wanted and the threat it poses to the community.
Dame Judi lived in neighbouring Charlecote for many years and both her mother and her late husband – fellow actor Michael Williams – are buried in the village churchyard.
In the film’s introduction, the Oscar-winning actress said: “As someone who spent many, many very happy years in this part of the country, it distresses me terribly to think that this landscape, which I know and I love so much, may be destroyed. I hope it doesn’t happen.”
Campaigners also fear if planning permission was granted for the quarry, which is included in WCC’s mineral plan, it could remain active for some 40 years, not the 15 years cited in the planning application.
Dr Malcolm Eykyn, a member of the Barford Residents’ Association, said: “We can see that once the sand and gravel have been removed, Smiths Concrete could – subject to planning – have the option to recycle aggregates from other sites, making the quarry an industrial production base for up to 40 years.”
But Ray Chambers, Smiths general manager, has said claims over 40 year operation plans at Wasperton Fields and comparisons with other Smiths Concrete sites were simply wrong.
Mr Chambers said: “Smiths’ business plans are based on sand and gravel extraction and full restoration at Wasperton Fields over a 12 to 15 year period, and our planning application to WCC reflects this.”
Campaigners have also long argued there could be severe health consequences, particularly for children and elderly residents, should the site become a quarry.
Dr Eykyn, a former GP with specialist knowledge of respiratory conditions, said: “They are putting the health of 2,000 residents, including 250 primary schoolchildren and nursery infants, on the line.”
The introduction to the video by Dame Judi Dench is available to view at youtu.be/E8SkSRAuVFw
