Ronez finishes excavating from Les Vardes quarry

The company extracted its last stone from there just before Christmas and all local supplies are now coming from Chouet headland.

Environment & Infrastructure president Lindsay de Sausmarez said yesterday that her committee was ‘very well advanced’ on firm recommendations about the use of Les Vardes as part of an extensive policy letter on water storage and inert waste disposal which should be out in the next few weeks.

Ronez general manager Steve Roussel confirmed that this week was the first New Year for more than 60 years without quarrying at Les Vardes, which had been worked continuously since it reopened in 1961.

‘We started producing stone at Chouet in September with production ceasing at Les Vardes in November,’ he said.

‘Now all the stone we are producing is coming from Chouet.’

However, the company will continue to process stone at Les Vardes using a crusher, and expects to remain at the St Sampson’s site for that purpose for another four years.

Mr Roussel said that inclement weather conditions in recent weeks had slowed production at its new site in the Vale.

‘We had ramped up to producing about 10,000 tonnes a month at the new site, but unfortunately that has been hampered by the amount of rain we’ve had. We are operating at closer to 6,000 tonnes at the moment. That means some stone has to be imported.’

The end of quarrying at Les Vardes is set to lead to a major debate in the States Assembly, as deputies on opposing sides wrestle with the question of whether to use it for water storage or the disposal of inert waste.

Mr Roussel has previously suggested using it for inert waste for 10 years before filling the remainder of the quarry with water.

E&I’s review of the options for water storage and inert waste has been delayed, but Deputy de Sausmarez said her committee’s work was now ‘where it needs to be’.

Final input from stakeholders was received just before Christmas and a technical appraisal of the options was completed around the same time.

It has been calculated that Les Vardes could hold more than 50% of Guernsey’s existing water storage capacity if the whole quarry was used for that purpose.

Deputy Peter Roffey, president of the States’ Trading Supervisory Board, which oversees Guernsey Water, has insisted that Les Vardes will be needed to boost the island’s water reserves.

He has also warned of a growing ‘inert waste mountain’ at Longue Hougue while the debate about Les Vardes is awaited.

But former treasury lead Deputy Mark Helyar has consistently argued that the States could raise useful income by opening Les Vardes to inert waste and accused E&I and the STSB of trying to frustrate that use on ‘spurious, unsubstantiated, scaremongering grounds to do with water consumption and climate change’.