Ronez aims to start quarry at Chouet by next October

Ronez Guernsey director Steve Roussel yesterday set out the potential timeline of activity after the Development & Planning Authority approved a development framework for the headland.

The framework – as supplementary planning guidance – would help ensure mineral extraction could occur in a sustainable fashion while protecting the surrounding environment and respecting the local community, said the DPA, following on from the recent States decision on the island’s future aggregate supply.

‘We are extremely pleased the framework has been published,’ said Mr Roussel.

‘That is what we have been waiting for after the policy letter was debated in the States back in September. It allows us to proceed with a planning application.’

The Ronez director said the company was hoping to put in an application before Christmas, then – all being well – be on the site by October next year with extraction beginning in 2023.

‘The whole headland is three phases. The policy letter only gave approval for phases one and two, and those are the ones we will be applying for,’ he said.

It is anticipated that phase one would see operations commence within the Ronez-owned eastern part of the site, according to an environmental appraisal prepared for the quarrying company and released by the DPA yesterday.

Extracted granite would be crushed using mobile machinery in an old quarry currently used for green waste recycling before being taken by road to Ronez’s existing Les Vardes quarry for full processing.

Some 400,000 tonnes of saleable rock could be extracted during phase one, sustaining production for about three-and-a-half years.

‘At the end of phase one, we will have created a void 20m below ground level, allowing full processing facilities to be built at Chouet with the plant dismantled at Les Vardes,’ added Mr Roussel.

This would enable 480,000 tonnes of reserves to be extracted under the current plant before Les Vardes shuts, with movement of material to Chouet lasting for about four-and-a-half years.

Mr Roussel acknowledged that this would mean more traffic between Chouet and Les Vardes, but stressed that the planning application would include environmental and traffic impact assessments – as required by the framework document.

Following exhaustion of Les Vardes, the headland workings would move into the second phase, extending westwards taking in the Torrey Canyon quarry and the current green waste tip. There would be six to seven years of reserves there – with about 15 years of reserves in total at Chouet and Les Vardes.

A third phase will depend on future States policy and if required, Mr Roussel said Ronez could potentially open discussions with the States in a decade about it.

DPA president Victoria Oliver said it was appropriate that the authority acted quickly and provided a development framework for the Chouet headland after the States approved the principle of quarrying at this site. ‘Through providing broad, comprehensive and practical guidance, we can ensure any planning applications and subsequent developments are in line with Island Development Plan policies and best practice,’ she said.

‘This framework will now give advice on how planning applications can mitigate impacts on the surrounding area and nearby residents and businesses can be confident that we will be looking closely at how future development will affect them.’