Roke Manor Quarry restoration could be pushed back

Raymond Brown Quarry Products Ltd, headquartered in Hampshire and involved in mineral extraction, recycling, and land restoration, has submitted a planning application to Hampshire County Council to change one of its conditions.

The change would involve pushing back the restoration of Roke Manor Quarry, blaming Covid restrictions among the reasons for delays at the site which is 1.3 kilometres west of Romsey, east of Shootash and north of the A27 Salisbury Road.

The council granted planning permission in June 2009 to extract 780,000 tonnes of sand and gravel, landfill with inert construction, demolition, excavation waste, and restoration to agriculture at Roke Manor.

Two other planning permissions were granted later, ruling the quarry area “shall be fully restored to agriculture within nine years of the date of extraction commencing.”

The county council recorded the start of mineral extraction in March 2016.

An additional condition specifies that complete site restoration, including the plant site, haul road, and bunds, must be finished within 11 years from the start of the bell-mouth access construction on the A27.

The council said that started on January 31, 2013, so Roke Manor Quarry should have been restored by January 31, 2024.

However, due to a “range of operational and market challenges arising on-site throughout working”, the quarry said restoration would not be completed by that date.

It said Covid-19 affected its timeline, as work was halted in 2020 and 2021. It also blamed seasonal constraints, such as groundwater level, ingress, and soil moisture content, also delayed the construction of the “geotechnical cell-lining” and “soil handling”.

For those reasons, the firm wants to extend the completion date of the development until January 2028.

It is forecasted that trees and shrub planting will be undertaken during the winter of 2026/27, with the final restoration completed by spring 2027.

Groundworks will be undertaken in the summer of 2027, and final planting and landscaping will be completed in the planting season over winter 27/28.

All elements of the development will enter the “aftercare” period by January 2028.

A planning statement admitted the delay “could be considered to have a minor adverse effect on visual impact when considering limited views of the site” from nearby homes.

Roke Manor Quarry, covering around 30 hectares with the mineral extraction site occupying 25.1 hectares, produces approximately 125,000 tonnes of washed, screened sands and gravels per year for use within the construction industry.

The products produced by the quarry are mainly sold in Southampton, Salisbury, and northern England.

Hampshire County Council planners will make a decision in due course.