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Plans for massive expansion of South Staffordshire quarry

A quarry in South Staffordshire will nearly double in size under new plans to expand work at the site, it was revealed today.

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The proposals for the quarry in Saredon, near Wolverhampton, will secure employment there for the future, before reserves of minerals begin to run low.

Around 10 staff work on the site, along with a number of lorry drivers transporting materials across the region.

A planning application has been submitted to Staffordshire County Council and will be considered by the planning committee in the coming months.

The quarry will go from 15.5 hectares to 27.6 hectares as part of the proposals by owners Breedon Aggregates.

The site is used to excavate minerals for the building industry in South Staffordshire and beyond.

But district councillor Mike Boyle, who represents Saredon and Cheslyn Hay, said there were some local concerns about the environmental impact, as well as possible noise and pollution to residents.

He said if the planning application was granted, the county council as the mineral planning authority would have to review the site's operations. Documents submitted as part of the application reveal 750,000 tonnes of mineral reserves remain at the existing quarry.

The extension will provide an additional approximately 1.5 million tonnes of mineral. An average of 150,000 tonnes a year are expected to be extracted in total.

Colin D'Oyley, head of planning and estates at Breedon, said: The quarry, by its very nature, is being extracted so by expanding the site and releasing more minerals we can keep employment there for years to come."

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