UK – Court rejects superquarry plan

Plans for a 600ha ‘super quarry’ at Lingerbay, Harris have received a setback for cement producer Lafarge as the Court of Session rejected the plans.  The basis of the case relied on the permission for quarrying the site, granted by the now defunct Inverness County Council in 1965, which was argued as still valid despite the Scottish Executive ruling that the new quarry should not take up no more than 5ha. However, in their written judgement, the appeal judged stated that the original claim could not be upheld.

Nevertheless, the book has not been closed as yet and the story is set to continue as a second case involving a 10-year old planning application for the same site is still awaiting issue. After the Western Isles council accepted the application, the secretary of state for Scotland set up an independent inquiry. The council reversed its decision and opposed the quarry. In 2000, the Scottish executive rejected the application. Lafarge has launched an appeal, which is pending hearing.