Duns Tew Extension

We have submitted a planning application to Oxfordshire County council to extend our Duns Tew Quarry.

This planning application seeks planning permission for a north eastern extension to the existing Duns Tew Quarry (East) and for the continuation of mineral importation, processing , blending and onward sale of sand and aggregate products. The application is accompanied by a restoration scheme for the whole eastern quarry (the existing and proposed extension area) to a mix of woodland, geo-diversity benefits and nature conservation with some public access.
 
Working in the proposed extension area will not start until the sands in the current western quarry have been exhausted.

The total planning application area measures approximately 14.6 hectares. Of this, 6.1 hectares is the proposed new extraction area. The remaining 8.5 hectares relates to the existing permitted operations in the eastern quarry (including the site offices, building supplies compound etc.) A large block (3.9 Ha) of new woodland planting is also proposed before any extraction is started . This new woodland  is outside of the planning application area but is on land owned by  Smiths and will be secured by a Section 106 legal agreement with the County Council.

The proposed working and restoration plans can be found by clicking here:
Download Working Proposals 
Download Restoration Proposals
(Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view PDFs.)

An extension to Duns Tew Quarry has been promoted through the emerging Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Core Strategy and the site has been proposed as an allocated site for soft sand supply. Due to the distinctive properties of Duns Tew sand it is widely used in local building projects and is the only source of soft sand  serving markets in the northern part of the County.

The extension contains approximately 415,000 tonnes of sand which will allow the quarry to continue operating for some 16/17 years. There are no proposals to intensify the level of activity at the quarry or the lorry traffic associated with it. All operations will come to an end once the sand has been exhausted.  

The existing Routing Agreement with Oxfordshire County Council, which prevents lorries from travelling through Duns Tew village (unless delivering to a customer in the village) will remain in place. 
 
The development proposals have been subject to environmental impact assessment to establish the most environmentally acceptable scheme. Any potential for adverse impacts arising from the operations can satisfactorily be mitigated and controlled by the imposition of planning conditions.  

The application is accompanied by a full Environmental Statement, which has been prepared by a team of technical experts covering many fields including noise, dust and air quality, traffic, visual impact, nature conservation, geology, water resources and flooding. A copy of the Non Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement together with basic facts and figures and Frequently Asked Questions can be found by clicking here.

Download Non Technical Summary
(Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view PDFs.)

Oxfordshire County Council’s website has a full copy of the planning application submission (search planning and use reference MW.0036/14) or click on the link below:

• Oxfordshire County Council

We welcome any comments you may have on our proposals and you can use our feedback form to let us know your thoughts.