More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Don’t complain if there’s noise, dust and vibrations - that’s the message from a quarry operator after a developer put forward plans for a new estate just 100m from its site.
Taylor Wimpey wants to build 187 houses on “the pea fields” off Oakapple Lane, Barming, next to Hermitage Quarry where Kentish Ragstone is mined.
Gallagher Aggregates, which runs it, has written to Maidstone Borough Council, which will decide on the application, warning any complaints from future residents about its operation should be given “absolutely no weight” if the development goes ahead.
Fay Gooch, chairman of Barming Parish Council and borough council ward member, praised the quarry operators as “good neighbours” but warned if the homes are built new residents must know what to expect.
“They will feel it,” she said. “All of us have felt the effects of the blasts. If it is approved, I hope they will inform people up front they will feel the vibrations.”
A noise and vibration report commissioned by Taylor Wimpey found there would be an adverse impact on the closest of the proposed homes.
But the report concluded the noise “would not be prohibitive” if measures such as acoustic glazing and garden fencing were put in place.
The developer has also indicated it wants to build 118 homes on part of the field under Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s jurisdiction - so 305 in total.
As well as its proximity to the quarry, protestors have pointed to the large number of sinkholes which have blighted the area in the last few years - including an enormous void which shut Tonbridge Road for five months in 2018.
Others appeared in nearby Broomshaw Road and Orchard Fields.
Approval was granted to extend the quarry in 2013 and allow a further 23 years of mining at the site, despite opposition from neighbours and the loss of ancient woodland.
It must meet conditions: limiting its operating hours, only conducting one blast a day and having noise-screening measures.
Blasting should not exceed 120 dB - neighbours liken the sound to a roll of thunder.
