Green belt Essington quarry up for sale for £6 million
A former quarry site in South Staffordshire is set for redevelopment after going on sale for £6 million, with the owner looking to remove its green belt status.
The 56 acre Windmill Quarry, on Bognop Road, Essington, has been listed as a commercial development opportunity by company First City, which is advertising the land on website Rightmove.
It is hoped that the site, to the south east of Featherstone immediately south of the M54, will be able to house office facilities and storage sheds.
The site, which was used by Tarmac as a sand and gravel quarry until the early 2000s, has since lay untouched, though the owner did apply for the site to become home to dozens of trailers in September 2013.
The plans were turned down by council planners and bosses launched an appeal, claiming the project would have created 25 jobs.
But on appeal the planning inspectorate said the economic benefits were outweighed by the harm caused to the area.
The land is currently part of Staffordshire's protected green belt, though the owner has recently applied to have this status lifted so he can carry out the work, constructing new office spaces and sheds.
In the meantime, the land has gone up for sale, with offers in the region of £6m.
Chris Bywater, managing director of First City, which has been marketing the site for around four years said: "At the moment it is just a hole in the ground. We hope that by lifting its green belt status, the council will enable offices and sheds to be set up on the site, increasing the number of new jobs in the area.
"We are looking to create something similar to the Hilton main industrial estate which lies to the west of the quarry."
The council are currently reviewing the application, though the list of green belt sites hasn't changed for 30 to 40 years.
"The owner, our client, has had to deal with occasional trespassing and has organised a few motorbike scrambles over the years, but other than that the site has remained untouched," Mr Bywater added.
The owner is also looking into levelling the site by filling it with waste.
"Until we have to go ahead from the council, the uses of the site are limited," Mr Bywater said. "We are ideally looking for someone who wants to use it for open agriculture or something of that nature while the council review our submission."
Previous plans to develop the site have been met by protest from local residents who are against changing the historic site.
On the southern side of Bognop Road is an ancient monument and listed windmill.
Green belt land refers to an area that is kept in reserve for an open space, most often around larger cities. Green belt policy aims to protect the land from development.
