Planning decision keeps quarry open

Seventeen jobs and a reserve of sought-after aggregates at Ingleton quarry have been safeguarded by a successful planning application.

The decision extends the life of the site in the Yorkshire Dales National Park until the end of 2025, giving the team time to remove a further 1.47 million tonnes of high-quality gritstone.

The area’s operations manager Robin Gillespie said securing consent was down to “some great work” by land and planning manager Jack Tregoning, supported by the site team. “It is not easy gaining additional planning permission in a national park, so this is an excellent result,” said Robin.

As part of the submission, the team worked to minimise operational noise by building an 80-metre long earth embankment and had the hopper feeding their mobile crushing plant rubber-lined.

They also sped up restoration by planting 4,500 trees and boosted grass cover with compost and extensive re-seeding.

Manager Adrian Wood said the permission this summer from the park’s planning authority was “massively good news”. “We would have had to close in May, otherwise,” said Adrian.

Jack, who started work on the project in January 2018, is also delighted. “It is really positive and reassuring for our people on site as well as being good for us commercially,” said Jack.