Goathill Quarry expansion plans lodged to operate until 2080

A detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been submitted in support of Collier Quarrying and Recycling Limited's planning application to Fife Council for the quarry at Easter Bucklyvie, near Crossgates and Cowdenbeath.

The latest application seeks permission to extend the life of the quarry, deepen excavations and increase its maximum output.

Plans also include extending the eastern quarry boundary, installing and operating an asphalt plant, increasing maximum stockpile heights and revising the phasing and eventual restoration of the site.

Retrospective permission is also being sought for an acoustic bund and water settlement ponds which have already been formed.

It follows proposals revealed earlier this year, when the company lodged a Proposal of Application Notice ahead of public consultation on the development.

Documents submitted with the application state: "The proposals are to extract up to 400,000 tonnes of stone per year, average 350,000 tonnes per year for a period of 60 years."

The quarry currently has permission for extraction until 2060, while consultation documents state the extraction and processing operation would extend until 2080 under the new application.

Under the proposals, the quarry would be deepened to allow access to further rock reserves.

The Environmental Statement says the site contains around 18 million tonnes of rock reserves.

The extraction area would be taken down to 140 metres above Ordnance Datum, compared with its currently consented level of 160 metres.

Traffic levels are also expected to increase if the plans go ahead.

The Non-Technical Summary states: "Lorry movements would be increased to 57 per day (in and out) Monday to Friday with 28 on a Saturday with no movements on a Sunday."

However, the applicant's assessment concludes the vehicle activity associated with the proposals would not have a material impact when compared with existing traffic on surrounding public roads.

Public consultation on the proposals included two exhibitions at Crossgates Community Centre, with the applicant's reports saying attendance averaged around eight people.

Issues raised included the long-term restoration and management of the land, with one comment calling for "restoration [to be] carried out with an aftercare programme in place", while another asked: "How long is the land to be managed".

The reports say some attendees were positive about proposed planting and shielding of the quarry, while one traffic query sought confirmation that vehicles leaving the site turn right.

Noise, dust, landscape, water quality, ecology and the impact on surrounding communities have also been assessed as part of the EIA.

The documents acknowledge: "Proposed continued quarrying operations will create a low but adverse effect on community amenity from traffic-related noise and dust impacts."

The assessment comes after concerns were previously raised over the handling of incinerator bottom ash (IBA) at the quarry and the possibility of contaminated runoff affecting groundwater.

In January, the Times reported claims from a local campaigner about potential water contamination, while environmental reports had detected arsenic, iron and lead in groundwater near the site.

However, SEPA said the groundwater contamination referred to in those reports related to a pollution incident in 2017 outside the quarry's licensed area.

The regulator said monitoring indicated there had been no movement of residual waste contaminants beyond the site boundary from that incident, while seven regulatory non-compliances identified in 2023 had since been rectified.

A separate human-health assessment considered potential effects including air quality, noise and vibration, with quarry workers, visitors and residents along routes to and from Goathill Quarry identified as potentially sensitive groups.

On dust, the assessment states: "No significant health impacts are therefore predicted."

Once quarrying eventually comes to an end, restoration proposals include woodland, public pathways and wildlife ponds.

Consultation documents say more than 13,000 trees have already been planted across the quarry site.