Powerful objections to proposed Lamington Quarry as Clyde overflows

Widespread and serious environmental concerns at the  proposed sand and gravel quarry at Overburns Farm at Lamington on the Upper Clyde are being formalised.

The proposal  promises continual traffic disruption to the little local communities – 13 heavy truck movements an hour for a period of 15 years. It also threatens conservation and national angling interests.

The Scottish Anglers’ National Association, the Grayling Society, the 100 year old United Clyde Angling Protective Association, Karen Gillon, Clydesdale MSP, Struan Stevenson MEP and Councillor Beith Forrest have, among many others, lodged powerful objections to the proposed massive sand and gravel quarry at Lamington on the banks of the Upper Clyde.

A major focus of the objections is environmental concern following the 25 year clean up of the Upper Clyde which produced a sparklingly clean river with a renowned brown trout population.The massive quarry pits will be on the river bank at Lamington and opposite a farm with a prize herd of cattle.

The possibility of river pollution from the proposed quarry cascading down the Clyde, destroying fish and the  Atlantic salmon spawning beds is very real. To prove that this is no distant hypothetical propositionl, the Clyde obligingly overflowed its banks at the end of July.

There are widespread concerns over the track record of the applicant, Patersons of Greenoakhill Ltd,  to extract the sand and gravel from land at Overburns Farm. Patersons were named and shamed by SEPA as one of Scotland’s worst polluters.

Of the individual objectors:

• Stuan Stevenson MEP pointed out that the issue is a matter for local councils but nevertheless felt suficiently strongly about the proposal to write a letter of objection himself.
• Karen Gillon, Clydesdale MSP, is also in touch with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)  and with Scottish National Heritage (SNH).

David Mundell MP ‘noted the letter’ he recieved from local objectors. Obviously a man of action. Is that what you vote for?

The Scottish Anglers’ National Assocition objections

SANA is the governing body for the sport of game fishing in Scotland. Supported by Sport Scotland it is regularly consulted by the Scottish Government on the vital issues determining the future of the sport. It represents the interests of all game anglers, working with related bodies and environmental interests to protect and enhance the aquatic environment in order to take game angling forward in the 21st century. It has around 30,000 members, mainly through its associated clubs. It is a powerful, informed and respected voice.

While noting that there are many grounds for objection, SANA’s objection restricts itself to matters related to what it sees as the inevitable impact on the river and its surroundings and the effect on angling.

SANA notes that the local Lamington and District Angling Improvement Association – and all local interetss – were given only two days’ notice of a consultation meeting.  The letter concerned made no reference to possible effects on the river and its fish, nor, as SANA point out, does the Non-technical Summary provided by the applicant mention fish.

SANA’s concerns relate to:

Silt

SANA has no doubt that the proposed extraction of 5 million tonnes of gravel from a site so close to the main river would result in silt escaping and being deposited for many miles downstream.

SANA quotes SNH’s recommendations relating to the relationship between sand and gravel quarries and rivers – all of which are set aside in Patersons application – which are that:

• extraction of gravel should be from “dry borrow pits above the water table”
• pits should be located outside the riparian zone
• gravel should not be processed or washed where waste water can contaminate waterways
• pits should be located in an area where there is minimal possibility of future stream connection.

The main destructions cited to fish from resulting sedimentation in the Clyde are:

• ‘Trout and salmon bury their eggs in depressions that they excavate in streambed gravels.   The eggs depend on a supply of well-oxygenated water for survival and development.  It is a fact that silt within the gravel can reduce the flow of such water round the eggs and thus cause eggs to die’.
• ‘Fine sediment released into watercourses can smother the gravels used by spawning lampreys.  Lampreys are primitive, jawless fish with sucker-like mouths.  They, and atlantic salmon, are named species under the European Habitats Directive.  In addition salmon, brook lamprey and grayling are listed in the South Lanarkshire Biodiversity Action Plan as “Species of Conservation Concern’.

Part of Patersons’ application for planning consent includes the Non-technical Summary mentioned above. It states that ‘silt would not pose an unacceptable risk to the River Clyde’.

In contradiction of this blithe and unevidenced assurance, SANA points out that:

• ‘The excavation would extract gravel from both above and below the water table and the resulting hole would fill with water.  The digging operation would create huge quantities of silt-laden water within that hole.  Patersons do not say what would happen to that water and silt’.
• ‘In times of very high rainfall the water would rise above the small width of banking to be left between the hole and the river channel.  The effects of climate change are likely to make such events more frequent’.
• ‘The channel of the Clyde changes regularly and sometimes considerably due to bank erosion.  With the passage of time the river would almost certainly breach that narrow banking’.

Pollutants washed from roads

SANA notes that: ‘the bank between the excavation and the river should carry a long stretch of the access road within the site.  It is most unlikely that this could be done without silt and other pollutants being washed directly into the river’.

The number of heavy truck movements involved, as estimated by the applicant, is 112 per day. Within the projected daily working period, this amounts to 13 truck movements per hour.

SANA points out that this heavy traffic volume: ‘would result in a significant increase in the amount of polluted sediment being washed from the roads directly into the river and via its tributaries’.  It also notes that: ‘Oil tankers carrying fuel to the site would add to this’.

In relation to vehicle movements, SANS points out that there is to be a wheel-washing facility on site, ‘which is likely to result in additional silt being added to the water in the hole’.

Lagoons

A major issue of an application for consent for such a quarry is how to deal with the huge pits left when quarrying ceases. Patersons propose to create 2 lagoons – that is, simply to fill the massive holes with water. It indicates that one of these lagoons might be ‘managed for nature conservation, with only limited public access’ and that the other might be an angling resource.

SANA’s response identifies major problems and unanswered questions in these proposals. The points made include:

• The depth of the lagoons would require to be reduced for safety reasons, raising the question of what would be used to put into the water to reduce the depth. SANA notes that, at Torphichen,  Patersons sold on to another company, Ridge Hire Ltd., who despite previous assurances by Patersons, went on to use a quarry for landfill purposes.  That involved the use of between four and five hundred lorry loads per week to dump landfill material.
• It is not clear who would manage the first lagoon
• The second lagoon, if used for angling, would not compensate for the reduction in the quality of the excellent river fishing that is currently available. (And there are already many still-water angling locations in Lanarkshire.

The Grayling Society’s objections

The Grayling Society was formed in 1977 to conserve and sustain grayling populations.  It has members in over twenty countries.

Graylings occur only in the northern hemisphere and are wild members of the salmon family. The species is given some protection in Annex V of the EC Habitats Directive.  It is not native to Scotland. It was brought here in 1855 from England and put initially into the River Clyde at Abington. Since when it has been introduced to several other Scottish rivers. many anglers enjoy fishing for it then.

The grayling is less tolerant of pollution than trout and salmon. It requires clean river conditions and good aquatic insect populations for it to thrive.  It is at its best during the winter months when other species in the salmon family are spawning.

The main points made by the Grayling Society echo those forcefully made by SANA and add a not of serious concern related to the projected operational period of the proposed quarry.

‘We are alarmed that this large, up to fifteen year enterprise, may significantly affect the fish and fauna in the Clyde. It will evidently be very close to the river, being separated by only a narrow strip of banking, and it seems to us inevitable that silt will enter the river at some time, possibly frequently, during the time span of the quarry’.

Hearing of application

It is unlikely that the application will be considered by the Planning Committee any earlier than December and it may be even later than that.

Articles on this proposal previously published by For Argyll

• No catch and release in Clyde River Action Group’s campaign against Lamington quarry.
• Anglers gear up for action as Patersons’ planning application for Upper Clyde quarry goes in.
• CRAG and the angling community mobilise against Upper Clyde Lamington quarry.
• Call for submission of objections now to quarry application for anglers favourite Upper Clyde
• Upper Cyde Lamington Quarry objectors raise the protst profile nationwide.