Copyhold Farm Quarry Planning
Raymond Brown have been operating Copyhold Quarry since 1994 and it is the only remaining sand and gravel quarry within West Berkshire.
Against a backdrop of unfavourable planning policy, planning permission for an extension to the quarry was secured in June 2017. The planning permission allows for the extraction of 40,000 tonnes of soft sand and subsequent backfilling with inert materials, ultimately restoring the land to agricultural use.
Copyhold Quarry is located in West Berkshire and, significantly, within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets planning policy for all types of development in the UK. It states that major development proposed in national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty should only be permitted in exceptional circumstances. The Planning and Estates Team were able to convince the Council that this is a minor extension to an existing site which, if not worked now, would be unlikely to be worked in the future, thereby unnecessarily sterilising resources.
