10:47am Thursday 9th September 2010
By Lewis Cowen
The people of Bromham have launched a campaign to save their village from the threat of a vast sand quarry.
Wiltshire Council has published details of potential aggregate mineral sites around the village which, protesters claim, puts the future of Bromham at risk.
They are worried the quarrying would bring an influx of lorries, create dust and ruin Bromham’s thriving fruit and vegetable industry.
It is believed that, if the proposals go ahead, millions of tonnes of sand and gravel will be extracted from the sites, blighting the village for decades. The resulting quarry would then become a landfill site.
Bromham Parish Council chairman Pete Paget said that he and his fellow councillors were dead against the proposal. He said: “I assure you we are doing our best to fight it. I only got a copy of the consultation document on Friday so I have had very little time to take it in.”
The area’s Wiltshire Councillors, Philip Brown and Jonathon Seed, are backing the battle and have got the consultation period extended from September 30 to the end of October.
The suggested sites around Bromham include a swathe of agricultural land between Westbrook and the A342.
The most northerly of these abuts Chittoe Heath, the only remaining heathland in Wiltshire.
Chittoe resident Ginny Scrope is horrified. She said: “To quarry in this area would be outrageous. We are talking about a large number of lorry movements and the dust contamination of a large area of land.”
Samantha Fletcher, from Westbrook, said: “This would be catastrophic for Bromham and would put paid to horticulture in the village.”
A Wiltshire Council officer will attend a public meeting being held to discuss the plans on September 16 at 7.30pm in Bromham Social Centre.
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