Thompsons of Prudhoe are the new owners of Crawcrook Quarry and own the areas to the south and west of Crawcrook Lane and north of the B6317.
Crawcrook Quarry has been a sand and gravel quarry and it has previously been tipped with putrescible waste (this is so-called ‘black bin bag’ waste). The Environment Agency still requires the site to be monitored and managed as it is an old landfill site and you may be aware of various pieces of infrastructure, like exposed pipework, throughout the site that is used for this purpose.
Thompsons of Prudhoe have taken over the monitoring and managing the site however, the site has never been properly restored and remedial works need to be undertaken to finally restore the site and address problems within the site. This includes areas of uncapped waste (waste that has not been properly covered over with clay) and steep slopes from the quarrying operations that are unstable and are collapsing. Thompsons need to bring in restoration materials to do this but they only propose to use inert materials such as clays and soils.
INITIAL WORK
Thompsons of Prudhoe have undertaken extensive background work in relation to the quarry and this is ongoing. This has included undertaking ecology work and installing new ground water monitoring boreholes around the edge of the site. We have also investigated the possibility of relocating the main vehicular access to the site. To help us in understanding the site we held a ‘drop-in session’ for residents in February 2023 to understand how residents use the site and would like to use it in the future.
We have also continued to manage and maintain the site and are in the process of updating the infrastructure, particularly storage facilities, associated with the leachate runoff from the site. As leachate accumulates, it needs to be tinkered off the site for treatment at sewage works. In the future, we hope that it will be piped off the site rather than being tinkered off the site as this is more environmentally friendly and helps to reduce traffic movement.
CRAWCROOK QUARRY LIAISON GROUP
We have taken over the administration of this Group from Suez and have invited more residents to take part. An initial meeting was held in Crawcrook Pavillion and the potential to move the access onto the B6317 was discussed with residents. The potential working scheme was also discussed.
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT
Following our initial discussions with the local community, we believe that moving the main vehicular access from its current location to another location on the B6317 may be welcomed. We would like your thoughts on this.
The attached PDF includes a plan showing 4 potential new access points and 2 potential areas for new access. They are as follows:
- Option 1 – this would be off Sled Lane. The vehicles would use the B6317 and then turn off Sled Lane and enter the site.
- Options 2 and 3 – these two accesses would come directly off the B6317 just to the east of the steps that go down into the site.
- Option 4 – this would be an access to the south of the site, just beyond Sled Lane.
- Option 5 – this would be to the south of the filling station
- Option 6 – this would be to the south of the steps
We need to be realistic with our options as moving the access will require investment from Thompsons of Prudhoe but it potentially has advantages in both the short, medium, and long term.
This plan also shows the possible working phasing of the site:
- We would start at the bottom of the in Phase 1A, 1B and 1C. In particular, we would be able to restore Phase 1A quickly to allow local residents access to this area.
- We would then move to the old silt lagoons in Phase 2 before moving to Phase 3.
- Even if the vehicular access is moved, we would still keep the compound area where all the plant and machinery might be stored, in the position it is now.