Market Drayton quarry given go-ahead after operating hours limited so prisoners can sleep in on Saturdays
Councillors have given the thumbs up to plans to quarry land next to a north Shropshire prison after adjustments were made by the applicant - including limiting operating hours to avoid waking prisoners up on Saturdays.
The green light has been given for a new sand and gravel quarry on land next to the former Tern Hill Quarry - a site neighbouring Stoke Heath Prison near Market Drayton.
Applicants, Grundon Sand & Gravel are expecting to extract around 1.2million tonnes of sand and gravel from the site over a period of 15 years at a rate of around 80,000 tonnes each year.
The proposal also outlined plans to use the site as a solar farm while quarrying is underway, partly to provide power for the site, but also to supply electricity back to the grid.
Plans state that extraction will be done in 10 separate sections across the 17-hectare site over 15 years.
Once extraction has finished in one section, infilling and restoration to agricultural land would begin and the solar panels installed - a process repeated across the 10 sections. It's expected that the solar panels would be in place for around 30 years.
After the plans were submitted last year, concerns were raised about the proposal by the Ministry of Justice's Prison and Probation Service (HMPSS) - on behalf of HMP Stoke Heath.
