Northumberland quarry set to reopen

Councillors have backed proposals to allow up to 5,200 tonnes of sandstone to be extracted from the Prudham Quarry, close to the village of Fourstones, near Hexham.

The Victorian quarry, historically known as Prudhamstone, was heavily worked from around 1830 to 1914 and was last in use in the early 1980s, but is now woodland and home to the well-known ‘Blue Lagoon’.

Haltwhistle-based Border Stone Quarries saw initial plans to reopen part of the site rejected by Northumberland County Council in 2019, after concerns over traffic, wildlife, land instability, and flooding.

But the company returned with altered plans the year after and their scheme finally won the backing of the local authority’s planning committee on Tuesday afternoon.

It is proposed to extract up to 5,200 tonnes of sandstone over a five-year period under the plans, which it is said will involve no more than three HGVs going to and from the site each day.

Councillors were told on Tuesday that strong objections raised in 2019 by the Environment Agency and the local flood authority had now been resolved after an “exhaustive process”.

The council said that the initial phase of Border Stone’s plans was “significantly reduced” compared to the original plans from 2016, with a block of sandstone west of the lagoon no longer being removed, and that new information had been provided on issues like surface water management and a proposed restoration scheme.

48 public objections were received against the plans, while Warden Parish Council also opposed a scheme which it said would offer “no new jobs and little economic benefit to the village”.

Nearby resident David Curry spoke out against the proposals in 2019 and warned the planning committee this time around that he was now “even more convinced that this development is fundamentally dangerous”, fearing that the disturbance caused by the sandstone extraction will lead to catastrophic flooding at his property – as well as risking injuries or even deaths.

Ward councillor Nick Morphet also spoke against the scheme and raised fears that the HGVs going to and from the quarry would pose a threat to pedestrians in Fourstones to cyclists on the Hadrian’s Cycleway.

But committee chair Coun Trevor Thorne backed the plans, saying that they involved reopening just a small section of the old quarry and would provide sandstone that can be used for the maintenance of historic buildings like Newcastle’s Central Station.

He added: “We have to ensure that neighbours surrounding the quarry are safe, we are going to protect them, and they are not going to be liable to land slips or flooding.

“To that end, I have confidence in our statutory consultees. I know a few stones have been thrown at them, but a lot of work has gone into this.”

A clear majority of the committee voted in support of the scheme, with 11 in favour and only two against.

One of the dissenting voices, Coun Georgina Hill, said she “can’t be confident”, having earlier expressed concerns about the technical complexity of the issues.

Before planning permission is formally granted, the proposal will have to be referred to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.