Quarry land swap plan in 'Brontë country' rejected

Plans to expand a sandstone quarry in Bradford's Brontë country have been blocked by a Government inspector for a second time after a land swap offer was rejected.

Company Dennis Gillson and Son wanted to extend its existing Naylor Hill Quarry on to a 3-acre stretch of common land at Brow Moor in Haworth.

The firm had offered to swap the land for a site that was more than twice the size, about 2km (1.2 miles) away.

However, campaigners argued the replacement land did not "measure up" and a government inspector agreed that deregistering the site as common land "would deter a proportion of the public from walking on it."

Gillsons, originally a family firm with a long history in Haworth, had won permission from Bradford Council for an expansion.

But the company also needed consent from the Secretary of State to remove the common land designation and complete the land swap.

Conservation group the Open Spaces Society opposed the swap, arguing the new land was inaccessible for locals and lacked the character of the original space.

They also feared farmers would find it difficult to let their livestock graze on the new land because of a lack of a reliable water supply.

A spokesperson for Gillsons said the decision to reject its plans had put the future of the firm in doubt.

Refusing consent in his ruling, the inspector said the remoteness of the new site "would negatively outweigh any…benefits."

He concluded that Brow Moor had much "positive ecological value", but the replacement site offered "would deter a proportion of the public from walking on it".

Hugh Craddock, case officer at the Open Spaces Society, said the land swap offer was "inadequate and inappropriate".

"It would have replaced the joy of the heather and gorse-covered heights of Brow Moor with characterless enclosed fields," he said.

"The public would hardly know the replacement common land existed."

He said: "We're not against quarry extensions outright.

"But if developers want to take away part of the common, they need to offer something genuinely worthwhile in return. This proposal just didn't measure up."

However, Darrell Whittlestone, manager of Gillsons, said the decision had put the future of the company in doubt.

He said it would result in about 13 job losses during the next 18 months.

There were also wider concerns about delays to housing projects, he said.

"[The government] claim they're relaxing planning rules to build more houses, but where will they get the materials? We provide sand, gravel, and natural stone," he said.

"Unfortunately, we can't appeal. This quarry has been here for centuries, and now it's being put out of business."

He said his firm "did offer better land" in the swap proposal, but believed it was declined primarily due to its distance from Brow Moor.

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