Campaigners are furious they are facing another battle to stop a proposed quarry just five years after they successfully fought off the last one.

Developer Bowyers Field Developments Limited is consulting people ahead of submitting a planning application for a sand quarry on 21 acres of farmland in Ryarsh.

The developer says the scheme will be a scaled-back version of the quarry first proposed on land west of Roughetts Road in 2017.

The original proposal to dig up 3.6 million tons of aggregate met with stiff resistance from those who live in and around Ryarsh and prompted the creation of the Ryarsh Protection Group to oppose it.

It was part of KCC’s attempts to identify a suitable site under its Minerals and Waste Local Plan, which maps out how the council will meet its mineral demands up to 2030.

As a result, in 2018 KCC deemed the Ryarsh proposal inappropriate and did not include it in the plan, instead opting to quarry a site in Lenham.

But on Friday April 26, residents were shocked to receive a consultation brochure through their doors outlining plans to extract one million tons of sand, which Bowyers Field says it wants to extract over eight years, at a rate of 125,000 tons per year.

Chairman of Ryarsh Parish Council Mary McKinlay said she was shocked because the parish council had received no official communication from the developer.

She said: “The parish council hasn’t been invited to take part. We had a request last September to say they were putting forward a scoping option request to KCC, and we replied to that and said we don’t want it - we’ve already fought this battle.

“We appreciate there is a need for building, but they don’t need any more of this sort of sand at the moment so we were happy to have our village taken off the list but now it’s been introduced purely for commercial purposes by an individual.

“We’re feeling very under threat.”

The parish council has been encouraging villagers to reply to the consultation letter to object as it says it can’t do anything officially until it is submitted as a proper planning application.

John Tangney, 73, who was heavily involved in the Ryarsh Protection Group, said many in the borough and surrounding villages are against the project.

He said: “The sand extraction at Lenham which was chosen last time isn’t even at 20% production so there is no need for this sand. This is purely some developers looking to dig a hole and sell the sand on the commercial market.

“We have no funds and we have no financial backing from anywhere, but we are prepared to do whatever it takes to stop this unwanted development.”

The developer says it “likes to give two weeks’ notice for feedback” but responses received after the deadline of May 10 will still be considered.

A spokesperson said: “After the application is submitted, residents will also be notified again and will have the opportunity to provide feedback directly to the council.”

Bowyers Field Developments Limited has created a website landwestofroughettsroad.co.uk which states: “Need for soft sand is drawn both from within Kent but also beyond Kent’s boundaries into Surrey, Sussex and Essex where mineral is in a much more limited or no supply.

“Existing quarries within the local area and across Kent are coming to the end of their life and therefore available supply is reducing.

“The new quarry at Roughetts Road will provide new supply to support ongoing construction into the future.”

Andy Betts, who has lived in the village for 10 years and is also a parish councillor, says there is no need to dig up “such a lovely piece of countryside”.

He said: “It’s soul-destroying to the whole village to potentially go through this again. It does feel like we’re being threatened by it. There’s no need for it so it’s being done for personal gain.

“As a parish council we will be led by the force of the village, and we will do what they ask and be strongly objecting.”

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.

On April 28, the Ryarsh Protection Group held an emergency meeting at the Duke of Wellington pub with many locals attending to discuss the proposal.

The Roughetts Road Quarry brochure includes a planning application timeline which says spring 2024 will see the finalisation of plans and submission of a planning application including an environmental statement.

It adds: “The Environment Statement will set out the findings of the comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment.

“Further consultation with the community will then be undertaken by the council.”

People have until May 10 to respond to this first stage of consultation.