About the quarry
The Quarry is a ~4.5 acre piece of land owned by the Parish Council. It comprises a block of severely neglected amenity woodland (a former road stone quarry) and a plot of allotments on the roadside to the east. Recent work has been undertaken on behalf of the Parish Council (utilising Class 12 permitted development rights) to create an improved access route into the quarry between the allotment plots - along with a multi purpose hardstanding area which will serve to facilitate future work and will offer enhanced access to the land for the community as the project progresses.
The land was transferred from the Local Highway Department to the Parish Council some time after the Second World War. The description of the site as 'a quarry' seems rather misleading as there appears to be very little in the way of useful stone / material on site and it is likely that much of the land was worked and then either left or back-filled. Semi natural woodland has regenerated there over time and has been supplemented by previous parish councils - but generally it is a forgotten area known to relatively few members of the community.
For at least the last 30 years the land has been used by local youngsters as a recreation area (informal bike track) and more recently - as mountain biking has become more popular than ever - the site has become more and more active. However this unregulated historic activity has come with its problems - particularly with uncontrolled / un-planned digging, jump building activities and some severe damage to a handful of trees.
At present the land remains off limits to the public - although users continue to ignore signage and use the site at their own risk....
The land was transferred from the Local Highway Department to the Parish Council some time after the Second World War. The description of the site as 'a quarry' seems rather misleading as there appears to be very little in the way of useful stone / material on site and it is likely that much of the land was worked and then either left or back-filled. Semi natural woodland has regenerated there over time and has been supplemented by previous parish councils - but generally it is a forgotten area known to relatively few members of the community.
For at least the last 30 years the land has been used by local youngsters as a recreation area (informal bike track) and more recently - as mountain biking has become more popular than ever - the site has become more and more active. However this unregulated historic activity has come with its problems - particularly with uncontrolled / un-planned digging, jump building activities and some severe damage to a handful of trees.
At present the land remains off limits to the public - although users continue to ignore signage and use the site at their own risk....
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In 2019 the Parish commissioned a management plan report considering the ecology of the site and future management strategy (completed Nov 2020 due to COVID).
In line with the management plan in mid 2021 the Parish Council transferred control of the quarry to the Open Space Management Group to enable the forgotten asset to start its journey back into beneficial community use. Part of the transfer arrangement included the provision of a budget of £10,000 to improve access to the site so as to enable future generations to benefit from the land. That work was initiated for the Parish Council (utilising Class 12 permitted development rights) in October 2021. As with the OSMG's strategy for the creation of the (award winning) community field - the next step for the future of The Quarry will be to hold community consultation (Probably Mid November - Date TBC) and to undertake some volunteering sessions where we can start addressing things like:
If you'd like to get involved or keep informed of what's happening, please either join in at OSMG meetings (advertised on the parish notice boards) or volunteer... |
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