A council has done a U-turn over plans to extend a quarry.

The new Maidstone administration – a rainbow coalition headed up by Green leader Stuart Jeffery – is setting “a clear statement of intent” and opposing the proposals.

It comes admit concerns they threaten the ancient Oaken Wood in Barming.

A 96-hectare expansion of the quarry, off Hermitage Lane, is proposed within Kent County Council’s draft Waste and Minerals Plan.

It would allow Gallagher to mine an additional 20m tonnes of ragstone until 2038.

But Maidstone council has now sent a letter to KCC stating it would result in loss or deterioration of irreplaceable woodland.

In it the leadership raised fears about disruption to wildlife corridors, habitats and reductions in biodiversity.

The stance is a U-turn on the previous administration’s support for the plans last year.

In the letter, cabinet member for planning, Tony Harwood (Lib Dem), said: “We will resist any development proposals that threaten our borough’s most important countryside and wildlife habitats.

“What remains of our sadly now now much-depleted ancient woodland heritage must be protected, with urgent action taken to improve the habitat health, while overcoming an insidious isolation of our woods within an increasingly hostile landscape – through means such as expanding tree and hedgerow cover.”

Kent Wildlife Trust , which supports the Save Oaken Woods Campaign, has also objected to the plans.

Planning and policy officer for the trust, Nicholas Trower said: “This is a positive step from Maidstone council and great news.

“The proposals to expand the quarry would result in a further loss of ancient woodland
that would be greater than the losses from HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing combined.

“The soil and trees of ancient woodland are key in the fight against climate change, with studies showing that ancient woodland in the UK alone stores up to 77 million tonnes of carbon.

“Oaken Wood is a key habitat for a range of species and is also part of a wider ecological network linking other woodlands and green spaces together and connecting habitats that would otherwise be isolated.”

Gallagher says the plans would secure 190 jobs at the quarry and reduce an estimated shortfall of hard rock extraction in the county over the next 16 years.

Bosses maintain the extension will not harm the woodland.

Though the trees will be cut down, the soil will be carefully preserved – and after the rock has been quarried and the void refilled, the soil will be replaced and new trees planted.

KCC’s consideration of the plans was put on hold after it received more than 26,000 objections.

And, earlier this year, a Friends of Oaken Wood group was launched in protest of the proposal with Cllr Jeffery as its chairman and around 1,200 members.

KCC says it will make a final decision on the quarry in 2025.