Dalbeattie residents won't give up the fight against quarry
Residents feel ignored by the council after yesterday's meeting.
Last updated 29th Aug 2024
Residents near a quarry in Dalbeattie are vowing not to give up their fight after it was given a license for another decade.
Dumfries and Galloway Councillors granted Solway Plant Hire the extension to continue extracting granite from Barclosh Quarry at a meeting yesterday, following a site visit last week.
The firm’s Managing Director Jason McClurg has promised to commit to special conditions that will reduce the impact of blasting works on nearby households.
The residents located less than 500m away from the site were not pleased with this news.
Previously, they lodged complaints to the application, saying that the quarrying works feel like an “earthquake” and causing direct damage to their homes.
There were also concerns raised about their private water supply being damaged, dust in the air causing health problems, and harming endangered species living around the quarry site.
Quarry operator McClurg doesn’t believe his work is to blame for the damage as those households aren’t the nearest situated to his site:
“They’re certainly not loud and they’re certainly not messy. We put a blast graph on the nearest house to read the vibrations. The nearest house is 250 metres away and the blast graph doesn’t trigger so there are no readings on it.”
Objector Franziska Weir attended yesterday’s council meeting and told Greatest Hits Radio that she wasn’t satisfied with how the inspection was carried out.
“So, we aren’t happy because the major point of blasting was not assessed completely in terms of the effects of water, but also properties and protected species have not been taken into account at all.”
Once the item was completed on the agenda, our reporter asked Mrs Weir outside the Council Headquarters how she felt the meeting went:
“Well I got the impression that the topic should go as fast as possible and off the agenda so I did not get the view that the people that are living there are not taken properly into account with their complaints and thoughts.”
She added they may need to take their fight about the quarry to the courts.
The measures McClurg has to undertake involve a process known as ‘dampening’ which means wetting to suppress surface dust and notifying all residents before blasting works go ahead.
‘We will be seeking legal advice’
Chief planning officer David Suttie said at yesterday’s meeting:
“The operational procedures I’m sure are highly regulated for blasting, but as a good practice, I’d be comfortable to put on a directive to any permission requesting at least that the developer ensures they undertake notification of people within an appropriate radius in advance.
“That’s just good neighbourly practice, to be honest. In terms of dampening with the dust, again it’s an operational matter and I’d rather not have that as a condition because there are enforceability issues.
“But, again, there are no problems with a directive requesting on behalf of the planning authority that when the crusher is in operation that dampening is undertaken.
“That was an assurance we got on-site from the operator.”
Councillors all agreed to agree to grant the planning permission with conditions and these directives attached.