18th April 2024

Dear Ms Dahl

Thank you for addressing our concerns, though unfortunately, they remain unresolved. Continuous reminders of the quarry’s “high-quality” blue pennant sandstone, essential to your profits, does not carry much weight —much like the persistent dust plumes we endure as nearby residents.

Our deep connection to our land, akin to the sentiments expressed in our National Anthem, is something we hold dear. Watching our valued green spaces being excavated and removed, despite the touted quality of the materials, doesn’t alter our stance. Imagine if your cherished Philosopher’s Walk in Heidelberg were treated similarly, with trees cut down and wildlife habitats destroyed under legal pretexts. Perhaps this might help you understand our perspective.

Moreover, consider that you :

Sent in enforcers wearing grey uniforms and black leather gloves wearing flags that did not represent our nation. (not a good look for a company with Heidelberg’s storied history)

Issued trespass notices on historically accessible land, with the wrong town name (it’s Pontypridd by the way, not Bridgend – that’s 45 minutes away, lorries permitting)

Failed to provide Welsh language translations of these enforcement papers which speaks volumes to your cultural awareness.

Destroyed the woods, fields and wildlife we have grown-up with and enjoyed for generations,

Recall the promise that quarrying would cease by December 31, 2022—a pledge that brought us brief solace as we experienced our homes shaking and dust clouds rolling over.

Would you be willing to endure another 25 years of blasting, dust, and heavy traffic? To wake up to dust-covered windows and cars, see new cracks forming in your structures, and hear dismissals of harmful silica dust as merely a ‘nuisance’?

The secretive sale of the land to Hanson remains a major issue, and we are committed to uncovering the details and holding those responsible to account. Asking why this information was not made public at the time, why it wasn’t put out to auction or offered to the residents remains a mystery we intend to resolve.

While you may have the legal right to continue operations until 2047, this does nothing to lessen the impact on our community as we watch our green spaces turned over for profit—a profit we cannot celebrate under these conditions.

Beyond legal considerations, I urge you to contemplate the ethical, moral, and health implications of your actions.

Your attempts at community engagement have shown scant improvement. Despite promises of better communication, the premature detonation on April 17th, before the scheduled time, illustrates ongoing disregard for our well-being.

We propose that Heidelberg collaborates with Glyncoch residents to fund health studies and establish independent environmental and seismic monitoring. We also seek transparency in your communications with R-C-T about the land sale, which could significantly address the harm and grievances experienced by our community.

Finally, it is essential to acknowledge the historical burden our valley has borne from mineral exploitation and industrial activities. Adding to this history with further scars is a legacy no one should aspire to continue.

We hope for a meaningful change in your approach, one that aligns more closely with the well-being and needs of the Glyncoch community. We look forward to hearing your response

Regards

From the Glyncoch Community

Heidelberg Materials Email

Thank you for your email. Simon Willis our CEO has asked me to respond to you and address the points you raise. The senior team, including Simon and the executive board, is kept up to speed with key issues across all our sites, including Craig yr Hesg, but it is always our approach that those directly involved respond to local site-related inquiries.

We recognise that Minister for Climate Change’s approval to extend Craig yr Hesg after a lengthy independent planning inquiry was disappointing for some in the local community, but it is important to stress that Heidelberg Materials (formerly Hanson UK) has always adhered to planning policy and procedure in this matter.

The quarry provides +68 psv blue pennant sandstone, which is a particularly high-quality road surfacing material with high skid-resistance and abrasion properties. It is used where the surface needs to minimise the risk of skidding, including on motorways, airport runways etc.

Much of Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) is underlain by such material and the Regional Technical Statement for Aggregates identifies a need for a minimum allocation of new crushed rock reserves. This is reflected in the 2011 adopted RCT Local Development Plan (LDP) by the inclusion of an area of land adjacent to Craig-yr-Hesg quarry as ‘a preferred area of known minerals resources’. This was the only area identified within RCT’s LDP for new aggregates supply.

So, while the original quarry area had an initial operational end date of 2022 (with permission now secured for an extension of operations in the existing quarry until 2028), it has been clear from RCT’s own development plan since 2011 that further quarrying in this area was expected to take place.

Our acquisition of the land from RCT was concluded after the adoption of the LDP and after we carried out our pre-application consultation on our extension proposals. While the council’s planning committee may subsequently have turned down our 2015 application, this was against its own officers’ recommendation – which gave us the right to appeal the decision.

At the subsequent PEDW (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales) Public Inquiry held in June 2022 the Inquiry Inspector made it clear that if the application was found to accord with the adopted development plan it ought to be granted, unless material considerations indicated otherwise. Common ground was agreed between RCT and Heidelberg Materials UK on the ‘need’ aspect, with the council not disputing our evidence on the requirement for the landbank of permitted reserves.

With regards to the impacts of our operations, I would like to set out that the potential air quality and dust effects from quarries are well understood and are already tightly managed via stringent regulatory controls and extensive monitoring. At Craig yr Hesg this includes monitoring that is now carried out in conjunction with RCT- and the results show full compliance.

All amenity and environmental issues were also thoroughly examined by the PEDW Inspector who found in favour of our proposals. The following planning permission granted by the Minister for Climate Change is subject to a comprehensive suite of 57 planning conditions to mitigate the impact of the quarry on the environment and host community. These include strict conditions on ongoing air quality monitoring in Glyncoch to be carried out independently by the local authority.

You may be interested to know that publicly available data on air quality in Wales, including from a location on Garth Avenue, is available via http://www.airquality.gov.wales/air-pollution/site/RHD7…. This shows that pollution levels in the environs of Craig yr Hesg are low and well within the levels set for acceptable air quality.

The UK also has very strict regulations controlling blasting, with modern blasting and drilling techniques designed to minimise vibration and air over pressure. Craig yr Hesg quarry already complies with these strict blasting protocols in its existing permission, and this means that there is no risk to people or property. Permissions allow blasts up to 6mm/s peak particle velocity (PPV) with the average currently at @3mm/s PPV on this logarithmic scale.

You reference potential damage to nesting birds and bat habitats. Our planning conditions for the extension required a Species Protection and Habitat Management Plan, plus a Tree and Woodland management plan all approved by the local authority. This outlines the species surveys that we needed to carry out – agreed with the county ecologist – prior to vegetation clearance works commencing. It also covers how we are to manage habitats for the benefits of target species (birds, bats, reptiles etc) throughout the life of the quarry.

In line with best practice, all vegetation clearance work has been overseen by an Ecological Clerk of Works (ECoW); an independent suitably qualified ecologist that advises on the appropriate approach to the project. To avoid harm to nesting birds, a breeding bird survey was carried out on 26 February 2024 where no constraints were found.

A further breeding bird survey was carried out on 11 March 2024 after concerns were raised and the police were called following sightings of sky larks. The fencing works were then carried out under ECoW supervision to ensure no birds were disturbed. The ECoW also checked any remaining bramble and scrub habitat and confirmed this could be cleared without an ECoW present between 13-15 March 2024, which was completed.

We are keeping the sky larks under observation and are working with our ecologist to ensure that our ongoing works have no impact on that species going forward. In addition, a potential bat roosting feature survey was carried out on the 26 February 2024 and another climbing survey on 01 March 2024 confirmed that no bats were present, and that the vegetation could be felled.

And, as you may be aware, we have put up 20 bat boxes and 20 bird boxes. We are also about to commence our reptile surveys to again ensure that we do not breach wildlife legislation where they are concerned.

We understand local concerns about the loss of amenity space. The frustrating thing is that we had discussions nearly a decade ago with the local authority about us donating 11.4 acres of quarry unused quarry land for community use. At the time our offer was turned down, but we’d be happy to revisit this. While there have never been any public rights of access over the quarry extension area, we recognise its importance locally. This is why our plans also include the creation of a permissive path over land to the north of the extension area – providing pedestrian access from Glyncoch to the Lan Woods to the west.

Quarry operations have been transformed in recent decades and are well managed through the planning and permitting process to prevent risk to host communities and staff. Health and safety is our number one priority, and a modern, well run, aggregate quarrying site in the 2020s can’t be compared to the coal mining practices of the 1960s as you allude.

Where we believe we can do more at Craig yr Hesg quarry is working to improving communication with local people and establishing a constructive dialogue. In the first instance it is our intention to set up a community liaison group. This is standard industry practice in our sector and helps to ensure that issues can be raised and addressed in the early stages, as well as enabling the more positive benefits of quarrying to the local community to be realised.

Membership of the group would be made up of representatives from the local community, local elected representatives, council officers as appropriate, plus representation from relevant statutory and non-statutory bodies. The group would have an agreed Terms of Reference and over the long term it would elect an independent Chair from its membership. We are currently liaising with the local elected representatives on the make-up of this group but would be keen to invite you to join as a representative of the Glyncoch Community. Let me know if this is something you would like to follow up on?

It is also our intention to host a future quarry open day – so that people can see first-hand what a modern quarry looks like. Given the current work on site this is likely to be scheduled for next year and we will promote the day among the local community when a date is set.

I hope that this goes someway to addressing the points you raise in your email. In closing I would like to stress that we are very keen to work with the local community and to establish a fruitful and on-going dialogue, while also working to supply the vital and much-needed materials that come from Craig yr Hesg quarry.

Kind regards

Astrid Dahl

Area General Manager

Aggregates – South Wales

Heidelberg Materials UK