P&R say no to Vale quarry plans

Monday 20 August 2018

Policy & Resources have rejected plans to use two Vale quarries as dumping grounds for inert waste, as it blocked a request for two Environmental Impact Assessment to be carried out on the sites.

The committee was asked for £300,000 to allow the States Trading & Supevisory Board to carry out the assessments on the L'Epine and Guillotin quarries.

But spending that much tax payers money on researching a project that was unlikely to see the light of day was a concerning idea, the Vice President of the Committee, Deputy Lyndon Trott, has gone on the record to say. 

Deputy Trott has said P&R were approached earlier in the year by Environment & Infrastructure and the STSB for funding for these Impact Assessments, but made the decision because both E&I and STSB acknowledged the sites were "small and inferior options" to the site expected to be used at the Longue Hougue.

An Impact Assessment is set to be carried out for the Longue Hougue site, however, with a £200,000 price tag attached.

P&R's official line is now that they are writing back to both committees to recommend the matter be bought to the States for further discussion. 

The plans themselves would have seen the two quarries used as future dump sites for inert waste - which is essentially old, harmless, construction materials.

But since their announcement, the proposals have been met with major concerns from parishioners and the Vale Douzaine, all surrounding the impact it will have on the areas surrounding the quarries and the habitats they provide for wildlife.

The latest was that an Environmental Impact Assessment was being carried out on the sites, but that may not happen now. 

States Trading Assets said that because both quarries are outside the main centre, there would be limited potential to develop any land created by infilling them - for example building on that land in the future. 

Pictured top: L'Epine Quarry.