Residents protest against quarrying extension plans

Residents have protested outside council offices over controversial plans to extend quarrying in the area.

Protestors gathered outside Rhondda Cynon Taf Council HQ at Llys Cadwyn in Pontypridd on Thursday, July 25 to voice their concerns over the extension of the nearby Craig yr Hesg quarry in Glyncoch.

Plans to expand and extend the life of the quarry were approved on appeal by a planning inspector with the support of the then minister for climate change in 2022 despite the local council rejecting the applications.

Hundreds of people had objected citing the impact of blasting on residents’ health and wellbeing.

‘Health risks’

Local resident Chris Whiles said: “The health risks and concerns haven’t gone away. A lot of people are suffering from respiratory disease.”

He said they can’t 100% say it’s down to the quarry but there are enough concerns to raise issues.

Chris said they’ve got a lot more people on board investigating which is a good thing and that 11,000 people signed a petition within three months.

He said that the quarry is getting closer and closer to the houses and the local school.

He said: “We can see the impact. The cracks happening.”

He said the issue is with Silica dust and that there are “so many health issues” in the local community.

Chris said:” We are thinking about our kids’ health at the end of the day.”

He also said information should be shared with the community in a way they understand.

Chris said that they haven’t got the money to challenge things and they’ve gone passed the point of judicial review so they’ve got to look at other avenues.

He said they had about 100 to 150 people come down to the protest and they said they’d keep it peaceful which it was.

Chris said: “We are trying to get answers from RCT and Heidelberg.”

He said he understands Heidelberg have got their business to run but said “it’s the way they’ve gone about it.”

Blasting

He said the impact of the blasting and the dust that comes from it is “heartbreaking” saying: “we are breathing that in.”

“It seems like we are the little people. We are never heard.

“We have got to believe that we can still win at a certain point.”

He said they can see the distress it is causing in the community and asked if Heidelberg would be willing to test everyone in the community.

He asked: “Can you put a price on community health?”

Chris said he has lived in the area for 15 years and he can see the passion coming together adding that the situation with the quarry is “only going to get worse.”

He also mentioned the issue with large vehicles using local roads and said that even if they don’t win if they can put conditions on that will eliminate very concern the comunnity has then they have done something right and “at least we have done everything we can.”

He said that people can’t sell their houses and that there had been cross party support from Labour, Conservatives, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru which he said tells you something.

He said the protest had been “fantastic” with “superb support” adding “we haven’t gone away. We are not going away.”

Highly controlled

Astrid Dahl of Heidelberg Materials, area general manager, aggregates south Wales, said: “We respect people’s right to express their views about our operations, but it is important to recognise quarrying is highly controlled, and Craig-yr-Hesg fully complies with the strict regulatory regime we operate under.

“What’s more, the quarry extension was approved by the minister for climate change after all aspects of our proposals were assessed in detail by an independent inspector.

“There have never been any public rights of access over the quarry extension area.

“Nevertheless, we recognise that it has been used by local people in the past, which is why we will be creating a permissive path with pedestrian access from Glyncoch to Lan Woods to the west.

“Quarrying can only take place where the minerals naturally occur, and our approach is about maintaining supplies of essential construction materials for use in building and maintaining our homes, schools, hospitals and roads.

“Craig-yr-Hesg quarry has been operating since 1885 and we are proud of the contribution it makes. The site directly employs 22 people, with a further 60+ maintenance engineers and HGV drivers depending on it for their livelihood.

“Overall, it contributes more than £2 million a year to the local economy.

“We are committed to working collaboratively with our near neighbours and our aim is to ensure that we contribute positively to the local area.

“We actively support local initiatives which benefit the community and environment and are keen to develop constructive dialogue with local people.”

Concerns

A Rhondda Cynon Taf Council spokesperson said: “We refused planning permission to expand the quarry’s operation in 2020, and Hanson subsequently exercised its right to lodge an appeal against that decision.

“The council’s decision was then overturned by Welsh ministers who granted planning permission for the western extension of the quarry.

“We acknowledge the concerns that residents raised and continue to raise, however, as a result of the decision by ministers, our role is now to monitor the conditions imposed on the planning permission. Our role includes monitoring air quality and enforcing the environmental permits that fall under our remit.

“We continuously monitor the site to ensure that relevant controls are being adhered to by Hanson. To support this, we have recently upgraded our air quality monitoring stations to ensure they continue to accurately record air quality.

“Publicly available air quality data, which is reported to Welsh Government and available online, hasn’t highlighted any public health concerns.”