Quarry fight is set for High Court (From Penarth Times)

Quarry fight is set for High Court

CAMPAIGNERS trying to stop a superquarry near Michelstone-le-Pit say they will take their battle to the High Court after the plans took a big step forward this week.

Many local residents and members of the opposition group Conservation Glamorgan were hoping that the Assembly Government Planning Minister Carwyn Jones would force the Vale of Glamorgan Council to make crucial changes to its future planning blueprint or Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

However, the minister announced this week that the Assembly government will not intervene in the Vale's UDP.

Graeme Jones of Conservation Glamorgan, a group that has been fighting the superquarry, said: "I'm bitterly disappointed. The Vale Council didn't give residents the opportunity to give their view to the planning inspector regarding the superquarry in Wenvoe.

"The only opportunity for these hundreds of people to express their outrage lay with the minister. It seems the views of approximately 2,000 people have been completely disregarded by the local authority and the minister.

"We will raise money to challenge this application in the High Court if necessary. The planning application shows that the Wenvoe quarry has sufficient resources until 2015, a period which extends beyond the UDP."

Max Wallace, of Barry and Vale Friends of the Earth, said: "Vale residents have been badly let down by Carwyn Jones' decision to allow the development plan through.

"We feel this is an affront to democratic participation. Friends of the Earth refuse to accept that the council can simply override the inspector's verdict on the Green Belt."