Authority issues ultimatum to quarry’s owners

Action could be taken to stop waste material being recycled without permission in a disused limestone quarry near Kidlington in the UK. Oxfordshire County Council is planning to serve a notice on Bride Parks (Oxford) Ltd demanding to know what is happening at the former cement works it owns near Shipton-on-Cherwell. John Duncalfe, the council’s team leader of minerals and waste development control, said Bride Parks had permission to bring material into the former quarry for stabilising some slopes which were in danger of collapsing.
 
But, following a complaint from a member of the public, the council discovered that a washing and grading plant had been installed to turn soil, bricks and concrete into aggregate. Mr Duncalfe said the machine was not in an area of the quarry where stabilization works were allowed, and it did not look as though the recycled material was being used for that purpose. He feared the aggregate was being produced for sale.