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Limestone Quarrying
Limestone quarrying has made
a significant impact on the Peak District landscape of today. Explore
these links to find out more:
Why quarry limestone?
Should there be quarries in the Peak District National Park?
How can the impact of quarries be reduced?
Case Study - Blue Circle plc.
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Why quarry limestone?
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Topley Pike quarry near to Buxton |
Fewer quarries operate now compared
with the past, but their scale is much bigger than ever before.
The Peak District limestone is particularly pure (high in calcium carbonate),
especially near to Buxton. There are many uses for limestone:
- Aggregate or crushed rock
- Building
- Cement production
- Chemical production - fertilizer, filler etc
- Iron and Steel
- Lime
and our demand for these products led to a rapid increase in limestone extraction across the Peak District since the 1950s, reaching a peak in 1991 but more recently significantly falling.
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Should there be quarries in the Peak District National Park?
The arguments for and against quarrying in the Peak District are numerous but here are some of the issues to consider:
| For |
Winners |
Against |
Losers |
| The quarries provide much needed jobs and support the local economy (1500 people worked in the extraction industry in 1991). |
Local people |
Quarries look like large, unsightly scars on the landscape. |
Visitors
Local people |
| Quarry companies are only responding to the demand from the public for products made using limestone materials. Most of us use the roads and live in houses built with cement. |
You and me |
There is a large amount of traffic associated with the quarries -
transporting the product out of the Peak District. Large, heavily
laden lorries driving through the narrow villages of the Peak District
contribute to air pollution, congestion and noise. |
Local people
Visitors |
Some old quarries have been restored and are now important wildlife
sites, or are used for recreation.
Wildlife. |
Future generations
Local people
Visitors |
Wildlife can suffer from the loss of land as well as from noise
and dust pollution. Underground cave systems can be destroyed. |
Wildlife
Future generations |
What do you think? Are
you for or against quarries in the Peak District National Park?
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How can the impact of quarries be reduced?
The Peak District National Park
Authority is the Local Planning Authority and as such has some influence
over whether a quarry can continue to extract limestone or not.
However, many companies already have permission to quarry limestone, which
was granted long before the National Park was first designated in 1951.
(For more information on the history of Peak District National
Park go to the FAQs).
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The white line represents the proposed extension to the Longstone Edge Quarry. |
When assessing a company's application to extend an existing quarry or to enforce an old permission, the Peak District National Park Authority uses the following questions to help determine its response:
The Silkin Test
Is there a national need?
Is there a good quality alternative?
Is there an alternative site?
The Waldegrave Rules
What will be the effect of the extra traffic on the roads?
What will be the effect on the local landscape and what are the plans for restoration after the quarrying has been completed?
What part does/will the quarry play in the local economy?
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Case Study - Blue Circle plc (Lafarge UK)
- The quarry is a very important part of the local economy employing 200-300 local people.
- The area has been landscaped to minimise its visual impact and the restoration
proposals are modelled on Cressbrook Dale, a National Nature Reserve.
- 70% of the limestone is transported by rail.
- Some of the fuel for the lime kiln is brought by rail, and currently a trial is underway to use tyre chips as fuel (tyres are a major waste disposal problem as they do not decompose).
- The quarry existed before the National Park was designated in 1951.
The ultimate alternative to quarrying is to reduce our consumption of limestone products by finding more sustainable alternatives and by using less.........
Did you know?
The toll motorway around Birmingham includes 16 miles of tarmac and asphalt glued together by a paste made from 1.5 million recycled romantic novels!
For more information on mineral extraction:
download the Mineral Extraction Factsheet.
search the archive.
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