Plans for a new quarry that would excavate more than six million tonnes of limestone over a quarter of a century have come forward. 

Heritage Quarry Group (North) Ltd has submitted the application for the 31-hectare site on farmland east of New Road, between Stretton and Thistleton in Rutland. 

The application to planning authority Rutland County Council says excavation could begin by towards the end of this year and continue until 2052. About 250,000 tonnes of and building stone, walling stone, Lincolnshire limestone would be extracted each year and processed on site. 



Map illustrating planned placement for new quarry near Stretton, Rutland (Image via planning application

There is already a working quarry site at Thistleton but the new application says it is effectively an 'exchange' for the current site, which is unviable because of a planning limit on annual sales of up to 60,000 tonnes a year. 

If permitted, the new quarry would create a cluster of six in the area, with the nearest neighbour Hooby Lane quarry half a kilometre away. 

Stretton Parish council will hold an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday next week (January 28) at 7pm to discuss the application and work out its response. 

The application documents say 24 hectares of agricultural land will be dug up if the quarry is approved. 

To mitigate this, 16.34 hectares would have to be returned to agriculture after being quarried. 

"The loss of this area of agricultural land is therefore temporary and reversible," the application says. 

About 40m of hedgerow will be removed according to an environmental report with application, although it says: "the majority of the hedgerow habitat on site will be retained and safeguarded". To compensate for the loss of 40m of hedgerow, nearly 1km of new hedgerow with trees will be planted during restoration.  

Exolum Pipeline System Ltd, which in 2015 acquired from the UK government a fuel pipeline system constructed to supply fuel to airfields in the Second World War, has objected to the quarry. 

It says the application has the potential to stop Exolum's ability to safely access and maintain its assets, adding: "Exolum needs to see a report that evidences consideration of the pipeline, as well as the methods being employed, including references to blast zones and other relevant factors."