New '˜Capability Brown inspired' quarry plans divide Midhurst and West Lavington

New plans at the controversial Pendean sand quarry have again divided residents in West Lavington and Midhurst.
An Inert lorry carrying waste through the centre of Midhurst to the Pendean quarry.An Inert lorry carrying waste through the centre of Midhurst to the Pendean quarry.
An Inert lorry carrying waste through the centre of Midhurst to the Pendean quarry.

The revised stabilisation scheme includes drainage improvement works on the West Lavington site which Inert Recycling UK claims will lead to a ‘Capability Brown inspired’ landscaped restoration scheme.

West Lavington parish councillors support it believing the quicker work is carried out, the quicker the lorry movements will stop.

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But Midhurst Town Council objects saying it will mean even more lorries through the town damaging roads and bringing more air and noise pollution.

West Lavington Parish Council chairman Mike Thomas said their stance showed a lack of understanding of the way lorries used the roads adding: “The company is carrying out a legitimate trade with permission for so many lorries a week, and therefore the objections can’t be raised in the sense the official bodies have already given their approval.

“West Lavintgton supports the plan because the quicker the work is done, the quicker the lorries will stop. Residents living around the site have said this again and again. We have had lorries since 1944 and it has got to be the residents of West Lavington who are affected the most.”

He said virtual reality images of the site showed it would be a community asset: “It is going to look nice with the water becoming a feature, new profiling of the shallower landscape and new planting.”

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But chairman of Midhurst Town Council’s planning committee Gordon McAra told fellow councillors: “We as a town will have to put up with even more lorries. There is no effect on West Lavington, but Midhurst and the surrounding communities have to bear the brunt of it.”

The ‘idyllic scenario’ of the new landcape would not happen for about nine years:“There might be some theoretical gain at sometime in the future but the problems affecting us before we get there will probably outweigh that.” Lesley Campbell said: “When the trucks die down at night, my house stops vibrating. It is not good and there are a lot of old houses in Midhurst.”

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