Quarry will be extended despite complaints about 'noise and dust'

QUARRY operations in Old Colwyn will be extended after Conwy County Council's planning committee voted in favour of the scheme - despite residents complaining about noise and pollution.

- By RICHARD EVANS

The planning committee met at the council's Coed Pella HQ last week to discuss Jennings Building and Civil Engineering Ltd's application for Plas Gwilym Quarry on Llysfaen Road.

The company had sought permission "to consolidate planning permission" for the use of the Plas Gwilym Quarry for a waste transfer station. Whilst Jennings has had permission for this use since 1992, the current application was submitted to "formalise that use".

But the application for the land at Llysfaen Road also included extending the site to allow the use of additional land for the stockpiling and storage of material. This extension to the northwestern upper plateau means the activity would move closer to residents' homes near the top of the headland, rather than in the quarry's "bowl".

The former quarry site is currently being used as "a mixed industrial and waste site" located to the east of Old Colwyn, "receiving and processing inert materials", under a Natural Resources Wales (NRW) environmental permit. The matter was deferred at an earlier planning committee meeting in September to allow councillors to have a site visit.