Two villages have raised concerns over a proposal to extend limestone quarrying at a nearby site for up to 14 years claiming it would exacerbate the misery residents face with more lorries running past their homes.

In letters to North Yorkshire Council, community leaders in Scagglethorpe and Settrington, said they had collated evidence to support “grave concern from both villages regarding the increasing proliferation of HGV traffic” and called on the authority to use its powers to tackle the situation.

The appeals to the Northallerton-based planners follow aggregates supplier Fenstone lodging an application to extract 1.35 million tonnes of limestone across 5.2 hectares of farmland south of Settrington Quarry, off Back Lane, where limestone and chalk extraction has continued since 1947.

The application documents highlight how the site is allocated for quarrying in the county’s Minerals and Waste Local Plan and state the proposed

extension is needed to maintain a supply of building materials to the eastern parts of the county and East Riding.

The firm states it would “only extract mineral through the use of drill and blast techniques should excavation with the use of hydraulic excavator not prove feasible”, quarrying about 360 tonnes a day, leading to eight dumper truck movements an hour before the site was restored as a wildlife haven.

The application states HGVs would be “operated with careful controls”, designed to avoid the historic areas of Settrington and Malton and that “drivers are under strict controls to manage behaviour along these routes to ensure the safety and amenity of receptors along the given route”.

 

Scagglethorpe Parish Council said despite pledges by the firm to avoid the villages, HGV drivers heading to and from the quarry were opting to go through the settlements in increasing numbers.

The community body said it had conducted regular traffic counts in recent years which had confirmed residents’ concerns about growing numbers of HGVs from the quarry passing their homes, with the last survey recording one every four minutes.

It said the application was likely to see the number of loads in and out of the quarry rise “considerably” and Fenstone needed to “take an active role” in getting drivers to avoid driving through the villages where possible.

A parish spokesman wrote: “We have many old cottages with only on-street parking, a blind double bend and amenities to access on both sides of the road. It is becoming increasingly difficult for pedestrians to cross the road safely.”

Also raising concerns, Settrington Parish Council questioned Fenstone’s claim that it had engaged in a proactive manner with the Local Liaison Group, saying the last meeting the quarry operator had with the parish council was in January 2022 and that the firm had carried out “very little” of its site restoration obligations.

It said surveys had proven HGV drivers were ignoring agreed routes to the A64 via Norton, leading to “grave concern from both villages regarding the increasing proliferation of HGV traffic” rat-running.

The parish council said residents had also raised numerous concerns over “intrusive pecking noise” emanating from the quarry from 6am and that the proposal “at least now delays the start of operation until 7am”.