Plans to continue quarrying at south Wales site until 2051 set for council decision

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors are set to decide plans to extend the timescale for quarrying limestone at a site in south Wales beyond 2050.

Gryphonn Quarry Limited lodged an application with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council to vary three planning conditions placed on the historic planning permission for Trefil Quarry at Trefil, near Tredegar.

The quarry provides minerals that are deemed to be vital for the construction industry.

The tweaks are to allow extra time for quarrying the site up until December 31, 2051, as well as changes to the restoration scheme for the site once work has stopped there.

This would eventually see all the quarrying waste tipped into a big hole at the site.

The purpose of these changes is to bring all the planning permissions for the site together under one approved scheme.

The new proposal comes less than six months on from PEDW (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales) confirming that plans to extend the quarry by 22.2 hectares would not be taken over by Welsh Government Planning Inspectors to be processed.

This allowed the decision to approve these plans, made by councillors in November 2024, to come into force.

Quarrying at the site to continue until December 31, 2029 was also agreed.

The planning officer’s report said: “This application seeks an extension of time so that the expiry date for the entire site is the same and reflects the requirement to retain the existing quarry, use it for the deposit of the overburden material from the extension, and to restore the quarry.”

The report explains that output from the quarry is currently less than half the volume that the firm is allowed to extract there.

Around 178,000 tonnes a year of saleable limestone is being quarried, when up to 400,000 tonnes is possible.

The report said: “After the 27-year extraction period has ceased, the final restoration of the quarry will be carried out in accordance with the indicative restoration strategy.”

There would be no change to the current hours of operation for the quarry.

The report mentions that Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority has raised objected to the proposals and this is due to the visual impact it could have on the landscape as seen from the park.

The report concludes: “Overall, it is accepted that the proposed extension of time and infilling of the existing quarry void will cause some harm in terms of landscape, and environmental impacts which leads to policy conflicts.

“However, the potential harm I considered to be significantly less than seeking to accommodate the overburden material ‘above ground’ in the vicinity of the quarry or seeking to remove the material from the site, which would add some 270,000 two-way vehicle movements, thereby adding significantly to the carbon footprint and the impacts of traffic on the village.”

County planners say that the proposals are acceptable and recommend that councillors approve the scheme.

The application will appear before the council’s Planning committee at a meeting on Thursday, November 13.