Henges campaigners hit out
CAMPAIGNERS have hit back at claims by quarry company Tarmac over the threat of job losses if it is not allowed to expand its operations close to the Thornborough Henges.
In a statement last week Tarmac warned the local economy would suffer if quarrying had to cease and said tourism would not compensate for the loss of some 2.3m resulting from its present operations at Nosterfield Quarry.
Responding to the claims this week, the Friends of Thornborough campaign group insisted that quarrying did not provide long-term jobs.
Chairman, John Lowry said: "Aggregates quarries actually create very few jobs in relation to the amount of land they sterilise, and the employees know those jobs are relatively short-lived because all mining ventures have a limited life.
"To ensure a constant supply of minerals, well-managed mining companies buy up mineral reserves in advance, phasing development so that a new quarry is opened as an existing one becomes exhausted. So jobs are not 'lost' - they are simply transferred to the new quarry and the sub-contractors follow them.
Mr Lowry, who is a qualified exploration geologist and chartered engineer, added: "In trying to reduce this issue to a simple contest between the relative economic benefits of quarrying versus tourism, Tarmac is cynically ignoring the over-riding need to save Yorkshire's greatest archaeological treasure for future generations.
"Due to the concern our campaign has raised in both Parliament and the EEC, Tarmac now has to prove that it is necessary to destroy a landscape of international importance in order to supply a local market with sand and gravel that could readily be obtained from a less sensitive site like those already quarried by its competitors."
Tarmac is applying for planning permission to quarry further land close to the henges, at the Ladybridge Farm site.
But Mr Lowry said: "Tarmac's employees should be demanding that the company gives up its plans to expand near the henges and turns its attentions to opening a replacement quarry in a location already designated by the county council. Surely good management practice dictates that a contingency plan should already be in place, in case the application to extend the present quarry is refused?"
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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