Member Article

Consultation starts on quarry works application

Residents are being asked their views on draft proposals to carry out works at the Seiont Brickworks Quarry in connection with construction of the proposed A487 Caernarfon to Bontnewydd Bypass.

The consultation is being carried out by Jones Bros Civil Engineering, which is the contractor most likely to build the bypass, along with joint venture partner Balfour Beatty.

Adjoining landowners and residents in the surrounding community, as well as special consultees including Natural Resources Wales, are being asked for their comments on the draft proposals for temporary and permanent works, prior to submission of two planning applications to Gwynedd Council for consideration.

Known as a pre-application consultation, the procedure is a new part of the planning application consultation process in Wales. It enables developers to obtain comments and make the proposal as complete as possible prior to submission to the council for consideration. The council will carry out its own consultation in the usual way after it receives the planning applications, at a later date.

A construction compound on the former brickworks yard has proved to be the best option from a selection of sites examined, because it is close to the proposed bypass, is an existing level surface, which is mostly hard paved and has been used for industrial purposes in the past.

Temporary activities associated with the bypass construction would include a secure contractor’s compound with offices, welfare facilities and car parking, fuel storage, plant storage, a building to service plant and a plant washing facility.

The facilities would remain on the former brickyard for two to seven years.

The second application includes use of the quarry for extracting construction materials for the bypass, followed by restoration of the quarry.

Planning permission to extract minerals, which is already in place in the quarry, continues to 2042.

However, the application proposes completion of mineral extraction and the restoration of the quarry over a much shorter period. The restoration would include stable landscaped slopes and filling-in of the flooded sump.

A quarry access road would also be built to link the construction compound with the adjacent bypass construction site.

Proposals can be viewed at: www.rml.consult/com/seiont-pac-documents.html, at Caernarfon Library, Pavillion Hill, during opening hours and at the Seiont Brickworks site office by arrangement with its the public liaison officer Bryn Williams on 07786 513571 or bryn@jones-bros.com.

Comments from the selected consultees should be made using the online form available on https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YDCW55GOR by 11 November 2016.

Mr Williams said: “The former brickworks factory yard would be an ideal temporary secure compound to support the bypass construction as it is very close to the proposed route.

“By using the quarry as a source of construction materials, we will substantially reduce the number of HGV movements and the total road miles travelled on public roads, to bring construction materials to the bypass from more distant quarries.”

The Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass project is currently subject to the statutory process. Draft orders were published in August and September and the objection period has now ended. Welsh ministers will now consider the responses to the draft orders and decide whether to hold a public local inquiry. An inquiry would be held by an independent inspector, who would consider all the evidence and report his findings and recommendations to the ministers, who would then decide whether to make the orders to allow construction to begin.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Harris .