Quarry to reopen despite ownership concerns

A former director of the company behind the successful bid to reopen Bradwell West Quarry was jailed for waste crimes

A company whose former director was jailed for waste crimes has won permission to reopen a Staffordshire quarry.

The Old Red Developments Ltd's plan to reopen Bradwell West Quarry, next to the A500, was approved by Staffordshire County Council.

Under the proposals, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clay will be extracted, before "inert" materials like construction waste is used to restore the land.

In April, the company's former director, Joe Frizell, was jailed for two years for his part in an illegal waste operation in nearby Bignall End.

He resigned the day he was sentenced and is disqualified from being a company director for six years.

According to Companies House, Zoe Frizell is currently sole director of The Old Red Developments.

The company's planning agent was approached by the BBC, who said their client had no further comments to add.

Clay was last extracted from the six-hectare site in 2004, and will be mostly used in the brickmaking industry, which supported the application to reopen Bradwell West.

But local MPs, councillors and residents objected to the proposals, citing concerns around the firm's link to waste crimes, and the potential for landfill gas odours like at Walleys Quarry in Silverdale.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Labour MP Adam Jogee said "too many people in this part of the world feel that they have been ignored when they have raised concerns".

Now the application had been approved, there will be "a lot of work" to hold the operator and county council to account, the MP said.

'Concerns heard'

Staffordshire County Council said its planning committee was asked to consider an application to extract 950,000 tonnes of clay from the quarry, before accepting an equivalent amount of inert waste to restore the land to original levels by 2042.

The community's concerns about the site had been heard, it added, but the committee could only consider whether the application was an appropriate use of the land.

Refusing the application because of what had happened at another unconnected site, or by trying to pre-empt decisions and actions by another regulator such as the Environment Agency, would lead to a successful appeal, said the council.

It added there would be limits on traffic movement at the quarry, and a community liaison committee would be set up so people could see for themselves what was happening at the site.