CAMPAIGNERS are demanding the Environment Agency drops plans to quarry nearly 400 acres of countryside. Coggeshall Residents Against the Quarry (Craq) insist the Environment Agency’s bid to turn land between the River Blackwater and Cuthedge Lane into floodplain is the “least popular option”. The Environment Agency recently released a promotional video outlining the project, which also includes the building of a 300-metre dam, and will see the owners of Bradwell Quarry – Blackwater Aggregates – excavate an area said to be twice the size of Coggeshall to create flood storage. Read more: Craq is calling for the scheme to be dropped altogether.
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Disastrous plans for a huge quarry on the outskirts of Coggeshall are expected to be submitted this month to Essex County Council. Blackwater Aggregates, the operators of Bradwell Quarry, will submit proposals to extract 13million tonnes of sand and gravel from a 400-acre site over a 20-year period. The quarry, when finished in the 2040s, would be vast and will be turned into a flood alleviation scheme complete with a huge dam near the historic Dick Nunn’s Bridge in the Blackwater River valley - a haven for wildlife, including otters and kingfishers. About 100 homes in Coggeshall, Kelvedon and Feering were affected by a 1-in-1,000-year flood in 2001 and the Environment Agency received a lot of criticism for not maintaining the River Blackwater properly.