Quarry planned near Colchester Zoo and Roman site is refused

Colchester Zoo, home to more than 160 species, was due to benefit from the quarry proposal

Plans for a new quarry located near an Iron Age earthwork have been rejected.

The company Tarmac wanted to extract 500,000 tonnes of sand on land east of Colchester Zoo and south of Stanway Quarry.

Historic England had said the proposal could harm Gryme's Dyke at Stanway Green, which it said was a monument of the "highest significance".

Essex County Council said the plan could cause harm to the site, and a committee rejected the application.

Colchester Zoo is also planning to expand its site and Tarmac wanted to create new landforms for the tourist attraction.

"I can perfectly understand the rationale behind it and it stacks up and makes lots of sense. But it is premature," said Conservative councillor John Jowers, who was speaking at the development and regulation committee on Friday.

"It looks to me like we are being asked to give special preference to the application because it allows one of Essex's best-known tourist attractions to expand.

"That is not the correct way to do it. I'd be more than happy to see this happen but I'd like to see it done through the correct process."

The zoo will develop its own expansion plans "over the next few years"

Gryme's Dyke is an artificial build-up of earth thought to have been built just after AD43.

Historic England believes it was created to protect the Roman territory of Camulodunum - what has now become modern day Colchester.

Council officers recommended that the quarry application be refused. Six councillors supported the refusal and two abstained, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service

Tarmac wants to extract about 500,000 tonnes of sand at the proposed quarry

Conservative MP for Witham, Priti Patel, said she was "concerned to see the recommendation".

She added: "The future development of the zoo, which is widely supported, is dependent on this development taking place.

"I have noted the comments in the report about references to there being no planning application for the zoo for the future use of the site and the desire of the council to secure some certainty at this point.

"However, it will be unreasonable for such an application to be forthcoming at this time within the timescales concerned.

Terry Burns, chief planning officer at the county council, responsible for mineral extraction permissions, wondered whether Ms Patel had "read the report properly"

He said: "Nowhere in this report are we seeking to stop the zoo developing."