Quarry firm criticised after plans to expand across Welsh common rejected

Mark Mansfield

A quarry company has been criticised after plans to expand limestone workings across more than 22 hectares of Welsh common land were rejected.

Gryphonn Quarries Ltd had already secured planning permission to extend Trefil Quarry, around four kilometres north-west of Tredegar, but required separate consent because the development would take place on registered common land.

Blaenau Gwent councillors unanimously backed the planning application in November 2024, despite an objection from Natural Resources Wales.

Because the development affected a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the council also agreed that Welsh Ministers should be notified before permission was issued.

Inspector Ian Stevens has now refused the separate common land consent after finding the proposal would interfere with commoners’ grazing rights and harm nature conservation and the landscape.

The proposed extension covers around 22.2 hectares of Trefil Common and would allow limestone extraction in three phases, with quarrying potentially continuing until the end of 2051 and restoration completed by the end of 2053.

Mr Stevens found the development would significantly interfere with the rights of commoners to graze animals on the land.

The company had said there was no evidence that commoners were exercising their grazing rights, but Mr Stevens saw horses and sheep grazing during a site visit, while the Llangynidr and Llangattock Commoners Association confirmed the rights were being exercised.

Wildlife

Most of the proposed extension lies within the Mynyddoedd Llangynidr a Llangatwg, Cefn yr Ystrad a Chomin Merthyr SSSI.

The protected area is important for features including calcareous grassland, wet and dry heath, grassland fungi, breeding birds and areas of blanket peat and bog.

Natural Resources Wales opposed the common land application, raising concerns including the effects on biological features and the loss of grazing.

Mr Stevens concluded the works would have a “harmful effect” on the SSSI and would be harmful to nature conservation interests.

The site is around 800 metres south of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and sits within its setting.

The inspector found the extension would harm the open and natural appearance of the common and “would not conserve the natural beauty of the National Park”.

His decision also questioned why Gryphonn Quarries had not considered exchanging the affected common land for other land, an option provided for under Welsh Government guidance.

Mr Stevens said that, given the scale and duration of the development and its environmental impact, an exchange should have been considered, but the company had not explained why it had not pursued one.

He concluded the impacts outweighed the benefits and refused the application.

Criticism

The Open Spaces Society, which had objected to the application, welcomed the decision and strongly criticised the way the company had approached it.

Its common land case officer Hugh Craddock said: “We are delighted that the application has been refused, but it ought never to have been made in this form in the first place.

“The applicant, Gryphonn Quarries Ltd and its advisers, blundered in with an ill-prepared and ill-researched application.

“It assumed that, having received planning permission for the extension, commons consent was no more than a formality.

“It did not explain why it had not considered the alternative of an exchange of common land. It denied that the land was used for commoners’ grazing, and made no proposals for compensating the commoners for long-term deprivation of their grazing rights.”

Mr Craddock added: “This is a classic exposition of how not to seek consent for works on common land.”

He also criticised Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority for not objecting to the common land application, despite having opposed the original planning application because of the potential impact on the National Park.

Natural Resources Wales reiterated its opposition during the common land application process.

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