Move to extend national park quarry rejected

Members of the National Park Authority’s planning committee were told Blockstone Ltd had offered to give up its historic rights to operate Stanton Moor Quarry, south of Bakewell, which is on one of the Peak District’s most important Iron Age sites.

But in order to do so, the company had wanted to extend its nearby New Pilhough Quarry, which would have allowed it to extract around 150,000 tonnes of sandstone over the next decade.

Planning committee chairman John Herbert said: “On one hand we have Stanton Moor, which is one of the crown jewels of the Peak District. We have a long standing commitment to prevent quarrying from ever happening there again and local communities strongly support that stance.

“However, the area around New Pilhough is also an important environment and, on balance, we felt the exchange in quarrying permission offered by the company was not sufficient. Members were concerned that too much was being given away.”