Object
Preferred Options consultation document
Representation ID: 98527
Received: 25/09/2019
Respondent: Mrs Patricia Blazeby
Following your letter of the 13th. September 2019 and your request for my comments (My ref. 18049 & 18050) (your ref. M&WLPRP02019) Here are my thoughts and concerns regarding the Norfolk Minerals & Waste Local Plan: Preferred Options Consultation. The plan involves the turning of a 6 mile stretch of pastureland and woodland in the villages of Marham and Shouldham into a Silica Sand Quarry.
Marham village is mainly one long street of dwellings with very few areas of housing in small streets off the main road. We have the RAF Station to one side of the street and mostly farm/ pastureland to the other, this is where the private company Sibelco from Belgium wish to destroy our village and country way of life by excavating huge holes for the extraction of this sand. Having the RAF base so near us we have to cope with much noise from the new Lightening fighter planes and sometimes the strong smell of aviation fuel. To expect our village to be sandwiched between that and a huge noisy dusty quarry is I feel very unreasonable, it will turn our country way of life upside down. With the two elements mentioned the properties that we have all our working lives saved hard for will become greatly devalued as many people already are reluctant to live here being so near a RAF base.
I wrote to the RAF Station Commander mentioning that a few years ago the BBC warned us that due to atmospheric conditions and prevailing winds we would be having sand from the Sahara Desert blown over to the village, this happened covering our cars and window sills etc, in a very fine dust. If sand can blow here from that far away how much more will our lives be plagued with dust from a quarry on our doorstep and would this not be detrimental to the air intakes and instruments of the one hundred million pound cost of each of the new Lightening fighter planes that constantly fly above. I also considered that a vast yellow scar on the natural green landscape would point any terrorist in a small aircraft to exactly where our main air defence system and armoury could be located like a big yellow arrow saying drop your bombs here. I know with Sat Nav the air base could be found but as with the last war the government went to great lengths to disguise where our war planes were, even to constructing fake airfields and planes, so why now make our country's main defence area so obvious. If the terrorists can take out the enormous American towers anything is possible to those so inclined on destruction. If Sibelco are allowed to go ahead with the extraction of sand the huge craters will fill with water encouraging all sorts of birds to the area and this would cause disaster to any aircraft as bird strike is much feared by pilots.
The so called preferred site for this dreadful quarry supports much wildlife such as Roe deer, Muntjacs, foxes, hares and all the other British wildlife that make the countryside their home. There is so much flora and fauna that would be destroyed. On the plan the destruction of an ancient woodland, Shouldham Warren would be required. This is a much loved, used and enjoyed wood by so many villagers. At a time when the rain forest is being destroyed, the lungs of the planet, we should be planting thousands more trees to turn carbon monoxide into oxygen which is vital for the very existence of life on earth not destroying the trees we do have.
Some years ago the government at the time said that any building work for housing should only be allowed on brown field sites but of late travelling through our Norfolk villages more and more green fields are being sold off for development. So many of our roads are very narrow as they are the previous horse and cart tracks and only have certain passing places for vehicles. With more housing comes more people and more cars, our roads are dreadfully congested now without the extra heavy vehicles needed to transport sand from a quarry, the disruption to traffic flow will only exacerbate an already impossible situation on our roads.
I am very concerned about the air pollution a silica Sand quarry will cause, with fine dust in the air the particulates inhaled will cause much aggravation to our lungs and could be devastating to the elderly and especially to villagers who are already suffering from lung problems, there is no doubt in my mind that our health will deteriorate. Who would want to live in an area with so many hazards if the quarry is allowed to go ahead.
I am a lady in my seventies and have lived in Marham for 30 years and I am fighting to save our village and the countryside I love, not only for me for the years I have left, but for the younger people living here and for generations to come.
Please Planners don't allow this monstrous quarry to go ahead and destroy life as we know it in our village of Marham.
Thanking you in advance for your careful consideration of the issues I have raised.
Following your letter of the 13th. September 2019 and your request for my comments (My ref. 18049 & 18050) (your ref. M&WLPRP02019) Here are my thoughts and concerns regarding the Norfolk Minerals & Waste Local Plan: Preferred Options Consultation. The plan involves the turning of a 6 mile stretch of pastureland and woodland in the villages of Marham and Shouldham into a Silica Sand Quarry.
Marham village is mainly one long street of dwellings with very few areas of housing in small streets off the main road. We have the RAF Station to one side of the street and mostly farm/ pastureland to the other, this is where the private company Sibelco from Belgium wish to destroy our village and country way of life by excavating huge holes for the extraction of this sand. Having the RAF base so near us we have to cope with much noise from the new Lightening fighter planes and sometimes the strong smell of aviation fuel. To expect our village to be sandwiched between that and a huge noisy dusty quarry is I feel very unreasonable, it will turn our country way of life upside down. With the two elements mentioned the properties that we have all our working lives saved hard for will become greatly devalued as many people already are reluctant to live here being so near a RAF base.
I wrote to the RAF Station Commander mentioning that a few years ago the BBC warned us that due to atmospheric conditions and prevailing winds we would be having sand from the Sahara Desert blown over to the village, this happened covering our cars and window sills etc, in a very fine dust. If sand can blow here from that far away how much more will our lives be plagued with dust from a quarry on our doorstep and would this not be detrimental to the air intakes and instruments of the one hundred million pound cost of each of the new Lightening fighter planes that constantly fly above. I also considered that a vast yellow scar on the natural green landscape would point any terrorist in a small aircraft to exactly where our main air defence system and armoury could be located like a big yellow arrow saying drop your bombs here. I know with Sat Nav the air base could be found but as with the last war the government went to great lengths to disguise where our war planes were, even to constructing fake airfields and planes, so why now make our country's main defence area so obvious. If the terrorists can take out the enormous American towers anything is possible to those so inclined on destruction. If Sibelco are allowed to go ahead with the extraction of sand the huge craters will fill with water encouraging all sorts of birds to the area and this would cause disaster to any aircraft as bird strike is much feared by pilots.
The so called preferred site for this dreadful quarry supports much wildlife such as Roe deer, Muntjacs, foxes, hares and all the other British wildlife that make the countryside their home. There is so much flora and fauna that would be destroyed. On the plan the destruction of an ancient woodland, Shouldham Warren would be required. This is a much loved, used and enjoyed wood by so many villagers. At a time when the rain forest is being destroyed, the lungs of the planet, we should be planting thousands more trees to turn carbon monoxide into oxygen which is vital for the very existence of life on earth not destroying the trees we do have.
Some years ago the government at the time said that any building work for housing should only be allowed on brown field sites but of late travelling through our Norfolk villages more and more green fields are being sold off for development. So many of our roads are very narrow as they are the previous horse and cart tracks and only have certain passing places for vehicles. With more housing comes more people and more cars, our roads are dreadfully congested now without the extra heavy vehicles needed to transport sand from a quarry, the disruption to traffic flow will only exacerbate an already impossible situation on our roads.
I am very concerned about the air pollution a silica Sand quarry will cause, with fine dust in the air the particulates inhaled will cause much aggravation to our lungs and could be devastating to the elderly and especially to villagers who are already suffering from lung problems, there is no doubt in my mind that our health will deteriorate. Who would want to live in an area with so many hazards if the quarry is allowed to go ahead.
I am a lady in my seventies and have lived in Marham for 30 years and I am fighting to save our village and the countryside I love, not only for me for the years I have left, but for the younger people living here and for generations to come.
Please Planners don't allow this monstrous quarry to go ahead and destroy life as we know it in our village of Marham.
Thanking you in advance for your careful consideration of the issues I have raised.