Dorset Minerals Core Strategy

Have your say on the strategy for quarrying

Dorset County Council, Bournemouth Borough Council and the Borough of Poole are inviting your comments on the future strategy for quarrying sand and gravel, building stone and other minerals.

We tend to take minerals for granted – yet materials sourced from quarries are around us every moment of every day.

The Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole Minerals Core Strategy aims to ensure the supply of minerals in environmentally acceptable ways.

Purbeck Stone is a mineral of national importance found locally, occurring west of Swanage to Worth Matravers. Many villages in Purbeck are characterised by buildings made of the stone and it has also been used in the architectural detailing of a number of cathedrals in England. The minerals strategy supports further stone working and considers the appropriate scale of workings within the distinctive limestone landscape of the area. People are asked if they agree with the approach in the minerals strategy.

Elsewhere in Purbeck, the minerals strategy identifies areas where sand and gravel is found and people are asked to comment on these areas as well as the way in which specific locations for future quarry sites will be selected

Additionally, important resources of ball clay, used in the ceramics industry, are also found in Purbeck. The strategy identifies two future areas for future extraction, one north-west of Wareham and one west of Stoborough, in order to direct working to the least sensitive areas.

The Minerals Core Strategy also sets out the approach for dealing with other minerals and policies to manage quarry development and restoration.

The strategy for minerals extraction is available to comment on until 9 September 2011.

For further information go to www.dorsetforyou.com/mcs or call Dorset County Council’s minerals and waste planning team on (01305) 228571.