Project to transform quarry into wetland is delayed

The deadline for transforming the site into a wetland habitat has now been extended to 2038

A project to create one of the UK's biggest wetland habitats at a quarry site is to be delayed by eight years.

Brice Aggregates, which operates Needingworth Quarry in Cambridgeshire, has been given permission to excavate sand and gravel until 2038.

The quarry had been due to become a wildlife habitat by 2030. The company, which bought the site in 2024, said "temporary market restrictions" had led to delays.

Cambridgeshire County Council granted it a deadline extension. The RSPB, which is due to manage the nature reserve, was consulted and did not object.

Brice Aggregates told the council it had reviewed the work at the quarry after it acquired the site and believed it would not be exhausted of sand and gravel until six years after the planning permission ended, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In planning documents submitted to the county council, the company said the project had been "only partly delivered for a host of legitimate reasons, many of which are driven by temporary market restrictions notable, though not exclusively, during the austerity years of the late 2000s and Covid [pandemic] periods".

Work to expand the RSPB Ouse Fen nature reserve, north of Cambridge, has been going since 2001 and seen the area transformed into a habitat for species such as otters, bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tits.

Once completed, the whole wetland will stretch for 700 hectares (1,730 acres) and include the largest reedbed in the UK.

"The proposed extension to 2038 will allow for the necessary completion of all sand and gravel recovery from within the permitted site and facilitate the carrying out of the full site restoration and creation of after uses/habitats, thus delivering, in an effective manner, the extensive riverbeds, wetland habitats and public access that planning permission was permitted to deliver," according to the application.

In a report published by the county council, the RSPB said it understood the reasons for the delay.

Council planning officers said it was "proportionate" to allow time for further excavation because "achieving satisfactory restoration is of paramount importance".