MAY I appeal to readers to help us get the application by Castle Cement to reopen and extend the disused Bellman Quarry called in by the Secretary of State for a public inquiry.
Bellman, combined with the already huge quarries, will give the Ribble Valley the distinction of having the largest quarry in the country.
The impact of stone quarrying on the surrounding area is well chronicled, dirt, noise, visual degradation, this in an area which is attempting to boost tourism.
There are 5,000 people living within a mile of the site, our community hospital wishes to expand, but will only be yards away from the new quarry and the road which all the quarry traffic will use and the noise from a mobile rock crusher.
The Bellman site has changed little since the Romans made a road across the fields to Sawley: it will be three generations until it becomes a lake, if extensions are not applied for or the lure of landfill does not overcome good intentions.
This is one hole too many, act now, write today, Rt Hon John Prescott, Secretary of State for the Environment, 6th Floor, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1A 5DU.
LYNDA ENGLAND, The Meadows, Worston, Clitheroe.
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