“Listen to local fears” – ‘Super Quarry’ faces questions – George
Andrew George and Tess Blazey of Tidal Lagoon
Local MP Andrew George is urging regulators to listen closely to local fears about plans to turn Dean Quarry at St Keverne to what they believe will be a “super quarry”.
Mr George had met with representatives of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project last year but had not been informed about the potential scale of their development and extraction proposals. It has recently emerged that the company, which has recently secured ownership of the quarry from Cemex, plans to use existing mineral rights to expand extraction to a level much higher than when it was last in operation before it closed in 2008. They also plan to build a 600m tidal breakwater and two extensive jetties to take barges which will move rock from St Keverne to build the tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay.
Mr George met Tess Blazey from Tidal Lagoon at his office in Penzance on Friday 23rd January 2015 and will be joining the public at an open meeting at St Keverne Parish Hall next Friday evening (30th January 2015) after his Penzance casework surgery is completed.
In the meantime, Mr George has gone back to the company with further questions and highlighted concerns to the Marine Management Organisation which is responsible for determining the application for the breakwater and jetties, Cornwall Council’s mineral planning authority, the Environment Agency and Natural England.
Mr George said, “Whilst I support the development of renewable energy projects like that at Swansea Bay, the sheer scale of what may happen at Dean Quarry is unacceptable and could have a significant impact on the local community. I have urged the company to look again at the pace and scale of what they plan to do.”
The last operation at Dean Quarry is said to have extracted up to 200,000 tonnes of rock per annum with half of this being removed by road and the other half by sea. The Tidal Lagoon project indicate that they hope to extract three and a half times that amount per annum, with all of it being transported by barges directly to the Swansea Bay site. They advise that the former jetty at Dean Quarry is insufficient and that two additional jetties will be necessary and an extensive breakwater is also needed to provide weather protection once barges are being loaded.
Mr George anticipates that his Penzance casework surgery will finish shortly after 6pm on Friday 30th January and that he will go directly to St Keverne Parish Hall to join the public meeting as soon as he is able