High Court Action Halts Quarrying At Thornborough Henges

In common with Stonehenge, and the Dinedor Serpent, the massive, 5,000 year-old henges at Thornborough, in North Yorkshire, have been subjected to ongoing disturbance and damage caused by a combination of local politics and big business - in this case the culprits appear to be North Yorkshire County Council, and building materials supplier Tarmac, who between them had apparently decided that visiting increased destruction on one of Britain's most significant ancient monuments was entirely justified, if enough money could be made in the process. This from North Allerton Today...

Quarrying of land close to an ancient site near Ripon has been halted following a legal challenge in the High Court.

It is the latest twist in a long running saga over proposals by Tarmac Northern Ltd to quarry 1.1 million tonnes of sand and gravel near the Thornborough Henges, described by archaeologists as 'the Stonehenge of the North'.

After a series of objections and a revised application, North Yorkshire County Council granted permission more than a year ago for an extension of quarrying operations covering 76 acres of land at Ladybridge Farm, Nosterfield.

The decision notice allowing quarrying to begin was issued last October, but after a legal challenge in the High Court by the Friends of Thornborough Henges, the council has agreed to quash its decision and reconsider it at a meeting in Masham on April 22.

A spokesman for the Friends said: "A number of legal faults were identified in the way North Yorkshire had made their decision. North Yorkshire agreed that they had got it wrong on three accounts."

So as we can see, the reprieve may only be temporary, but it might occur to some people that there is no lack of sand and gravel available in vast quantities at numerous locations across the UK, and that as such there is no justification whatsoever in vandalising valuable heritage sites such as Thornborough Henges; more from the linked article...

The council's Director of Business and Environmental Services, Gordon Gresty, said: "This development has had a contentious history and the legal challenge needs to be seen against the background of the wide range of issues the Planning and Regulations Functions Committee took into account when it arrived at its decision to grant consent.

"These issues were properly and comprehensively considered by the committee. However, in order to avoid further legal proceedings we have agreed to the quashing of the present planning approval and it would be our intention to take the issue back to the Planning and Regulatory Functions Committee."

A Tarmac spokesman said: "We understand that following legal submissions, the planning consent which we received last October to commence production of sand and gravel at Ladybridge Farm, is no longer in effect. "We hope that a corrected report will be placed before the county council's Planning and Regulatory Functions Committee at the earliest opportunity. Meanwhile, we have stopped work at the
Ladybridge Farm site."

The rest of us will be hoping that the corrected report convinces the committee members that any further expansion of this ruinous project should be discontinued forthwith, and that Tarmac will find somewhere more suitable to conduct their sand and gravel extractions - one look at the image at top makes it abundantly clear that irreparable damage has already been done to the Cursus, and that's what left of the site should not fall prey to further predations upon its dignity.

So for now, it's fingers crossed for April 22nd, and it's to be hoped that common sense prevails, whereupon this and any future applications to inflict more damage at Thornborough Henges, are unceremoniously dumped into the nearest ditch.

see also : 24 Hour Museum : Rollright Stones Under Threat From Chipping Norton Traffic Proposal

Update: Here's the latest Press release from TimeWatch.org...

Urgent action called over Thornborough

Heritage campaign group TimeWatch have called for urgent action over Thornborough Henges.

Following the recent news that planning permission to quarry Ladybridge Farm has been overturned following a legal challenge by campaign group Friends of Thornborough.

TimeWatch believe that recent archaeological discoveries within the application area mean it would be impossible for the council to grant the planning application when it is reviewed at a council meeting in Masham on April 22nd, so long as significant numbers of the public show they value the archaeology and wish to see it protected.

“The original application was thrown out because it threatened nationally important archaeology. The second application was only granted because the planning committee believed the revised site plan avoided any of the archaeology” said TimeWatch Chairman George Chaplin. “But since the application was granted, Tarmac have found Neolithic archaeology within the site, meaning that the original ruling must stand, but only if the public show they value their heritage”.

“A great many of us were shocked that the second application was passed, the lack of significant objections was one factor, we need to make sure that everyone who objected to the first application knows they can object on exactly the same grounds again”.

TimeWatch are advising all concerned to write to NYCC planning department to express their concern before the end of March: The Planning officer, Ladybridge Application, Environmental Services, Planning & Countryside Unit, County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AH. Quoting Application number C2/29/500/53 Ladybridge Farm.


Contacts

TimeWatch – info@timewatch.org
www.timewatch.org

And to add to that, here's some contextual detail...

Background

Thornborough Henges is the location of some of Britain’s largest prehistoric structures, the site, which is comparable to the Stonehenge complex contains numerous henges, ritual causeways, burial and settlement sites from the far reaches of history. The site has been called the most important between Stonehenge and The Orkneys by English Heritage.

The complex covers several square miles and was Yorkshires largest ritual location in the Neolithic period. Unfortunately for a number of years the gravel bed that Thornborough sits upon has been subject to quarrying and significant quarrying within the monument complex continues to this day; although the major monuments are scheduled, the landscape archaeology surrounding them are not.

In 2002 Tarmac, the quarry company in question announced plans to quarry Ladybridge Farm and Thornborough Moor, both locations are known to contain
nationally important archaeology from the Neolithic period.

Following that announcement, several archaeological organisations voiced concerns and ultimately a number of campaign groups became involved in the cause of saving as much of the Thornborough Henges monument complex as
possible. These campaign groups include Friends of Thornborough, TimeWatch and Heritage Action. In addition, many notable archaeologists, including Richard Bradley, Richard Prior and Mark Horton have spoken out against the new proposals.

In the run up to the planning application being determined, a petition numbering some 10,000 signatures, and 1,500 letters of objection were received by North Yorkshire County Council.

As a result of the significant lobbying and support, that initial planning application to quarry Ladybridge Farm was refused due to the potential damage to nationally important archaeology located within the application site.

The issue hit national headlines and most pundits agreed that the correct decision had been arrived at. After all a very significant ancient site of national importance would have been seriously damaged by the quarry diggers; recording of archaeology prior to destruction is a poor alternative to complete preservation and not normally an option for such important remains.

But this good news was short, a modified application was quickly seen by the council before many campaigners knew it had been presented. The seeming lack of public outcry to the revised application making it easy for the council planners to believe that the cause for objection no longer existed.

The primary reason the new application was granted, was because Tarmac claimed that it avoided any areas that contained nationally important archaeology. A claim vehemently denied by heritage campaigners, but seemingly accepted by English Heritage and Council Archaeologists.

However, Tarmac’s road to quarrying Ladybridge still has along way to run. Behind the scenes, lobby group Friends of Thornborough put together a legal challenge to the application that has caused the council to revoke the planning permission previously granted in order to avoid a judicial review of the judgement.

North Yorkshire County Council have decided to re-judge the planning application on April 22nd at a special public meeting at Masham Town Hall.