Hercules Enterprises applies for new UK grinding plant

Hercules Enterprises Ltd, majority owned by Spanish group Cementos La Cruz, is applying to Kent County Council (KCC) for permission to build a 500,000tpa grinding plant at Sheerness Docks, UK. Raw materials will be imported through the docks and the 2.3ha site will include a conveyor, four silos, EcoHopper, clinker storage hall, packaging plant, weighbridge and control rooms. The facility's designs reference Cemengal of Spain as the supplier of the Plug & Grind plant.

Hercules Enterprises, which is represented locally by Stuart Mason-Elliott, Chairman of Elliott Brothers Ltd, a builder's merchant from Southampton, wants to construct the plant next to the reclaimed Lappel Bank on land currently used for storing building materials and imported vehicles or those waiting to be exported. It is not known how much it will cost or how many jobs it is likely to create, reports Kent Online.

In a public notice advert, KCC admitted the proposal "may affect the character and or appearance of the Sheerness Royal Naval Dockyard and Blue Town Conservation Area" and that it may also affect the setting of a listed building. The highest part of the plant will stand at 52m (173ft). Wednesday, 9 March was the last day for comments to be lodged on the plans.