Five-year extension sought for sandpit due to close this year

Five-year extension sought for sandpit due to close this year

Simon Sand and Gravel Ltd, which stretches inland from the Five Mile Road and along Chemin des Basses Mielles was supposed to wind up by the end of this year.

A 15-year ‘exit strategy’ was agreed by the former Planning and Environment Department in 2003 with the aim of finding more environmentally friendly ways to keep the Island’s construction industry supplied with sand.

This included moving from extraction of local sand to importing materials, even though the works in St Ouen’s Bay had capacity to continue for another 60 years.

Under proposals in the Jersey Mineral Strategy from 2001, which was subsequently absorbed into the Island’s planning blueprint, the Island Plan, the business would work with Planning and Environment to cease extraction by the end of 2018.

However, the company says, reduced demand for sand since its permit was granted in 2003 means there are still parts of the approved extraction area that remain untouched.

In 2011, 74,259 tons of sand were extracted but by the following year this had fallen to 45,664 tons and has remained around that level ever since.

It is believed that the decline in the demand was due to a reduction in construction works in Jersey because of the recession. Construction in the Island is now on the increase and the company believes it can continue to meet the demand for the next three to five years.

‘The slowdown in demand for sand shows that annual tonnage has remained fairly constant over the last six years,’ the company says in the application documents.

‘Using the average annual tonnage over this period [2012 to 2017] of 46,988 tons, the company estimates that the remaining yield would meet the Island’s needs for sand for the next four to five years at present demand levels.’

The application adds: ‘Circumstances outside the company’s control have led to the need for the amendments to the current permission in order to secure the supply of sand for the Island’s construction industry.’

The family has been extracting sand from the bay since 1909, with the sixth generation now working in the business.

A scheme to restore areas with natural vegetation and to create wildlife habitats once sand has been extracted began in the 1970s.

The company says if the application to extend the permit is successful, it will continue to work closely with Environment to restore the sand pit so it ‘sits sympathetically in the heart of St Ouen’s Bay and the Coastal National Park’.

‘[We] envisage work on proposals for the site’s restoration and after-use will commence immediately following the success of the application and that a firm strategy will be agreed and started to be implemented within the time-frame requested.’

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