Plans to restart blasting at quarry submitted

The application seeks to extend the mineral extraction area at Croft Quarry

A proposal to restart blasting at a quarry in Leicestershire has been revealed.

Extraction at Croft Quarry, in the village’s Coventry Road, ceased in 2022 as it was considered "uneconomical" at the time, documents submitted to Leicestershire County Council state.

However, a new application submitted to the authority sets out Aggregate Industries UK Ltd’s intention to start using explosives to extract materials from a new area of the site.

If planning permission is approved for the scheme, the quarrying would start 10 years later.

Aggregate Industries is looking to use the intervening years to fill the area previously excavated, according to the documents.

This would be landscaped, with a mix of grassland, woodland and water features created, the paperwork added.

The plan is similar to one approved in 2022 for the site, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The key changes between the previous and current proposals is the delay in starting quarrying the new area of the site, and for expanded recycling operations on site to include working with non-hazardous soils.

Documents suggest much of the moving of materials to and from the site would be via railways, the LDRS said.

Trains would be able to operate 24 hours a day, with two to four arriving at the quarry each day.

Operations across the site are also expected to generate about 192 two-way heavy goods vehicle trips a day, if the application is approved.