Quarry plans move forward despite concerns

Plans for a new quarry are moving forward despite concerns raised over noise, dust and the effect on wildlife.

Cemex has submitted a new planning application to Hampshire County Council and Dorset Council to extract sand and gravel at Midgham Farm near Fordingbridge, on the border between the two counties.

If granted permission, Midgham quarry would release approximately 3.6m tonnes of sand and gravel over roughly 15 years.

A public consultation into the planning application will open on Wednesday and close on 28 February.

The application site area is 88.53 hectares of agricultural land around 1.2 miles (2km) southwest of Fordingbridge.

It also lies immediately northeast of Cemex's existing Hamer Warren Quarry and approximately 1.8 miles (2.7km) east of the New Forest National Park.

Whilst 99% of the land lies within Hampshire, around 0.77 hectares lies within Dorset Council's area.

A previous application submitted to Dorset Council in March 2023 aimed to build a mixed-use development with up to 1,700 homes and community spaces, but it was rejected.

The proposed quarry at Midgham Farm would be a follow-on site from Cemex's existing Hamer Warren Quarry, which is set to close in around four years.

Cemex said it intends to continue the extraction of minerals in the area.

Access, internal haul roads, a processing plant, silt and freshwater lagoons, stockpiles, conveyors, offices, a weigh-bridge, and other ancillary infrastructure would be built.

After all extraction phases are finished, the site would be progressively restored to a mixture of agriculture and nature conservation.

If approved, the quarry would be open Monday to Friday from 07:00 to 18:00, and Saturdays from 08:00 to 13:00.

An estimated 90 lorries would enter and exit the site each day.

So far, Cemex has convened a public consultation for the community, two public exhibitions, a community webpage and meetings with North Dorset MP Simon Hoare and Lyndhurst and Fordingbridge's Conservative county councillor Edward Heron.

A total of 100 feedback responses were received from residents.

The company said the main concerns raised during the consultation were highways, access and transport.

Other "notable" issues raised included queries over noise and dust, impacts on wildlife and biodiversity and loss of agricultural land.

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