Fresh concerns have emerged about the operation of a Wensleydale quarry which is seeking to extend its lifespan by 11 years.
Tarmac this week held a public exhibition on its plans for Wensley Quarry, near Preston-under-Scar, as part of a consultation exercise ahead of a new planning application being submitted.
The company wants to extend the permitted lifespan of the quarry by 11 years, to 2053.
It also needs to agree its plans for expanding the area to be quarried with planners at North Yorkshire Council.
A previous planning application submitted last year was withdrawn by the company following criticism from local residents.
They claimed the operator had ignored villagers and misled council officials over problems with noise, dust and vibrations.
Residents said Tarmac had failed to inform council officers of their complaints when they made site visits and had failed to maintain a complaints log, which it was required to do under the terms of the previous permission.
Ahead of this week’s exhibition, Preston-under-Scar Residents’ Group claimed that Tarmac had also breached existing planning conditions by not outlining its plan for dealing with the treatment of foul and surface water, which it was required to do within six months of obtaining permission in 2015.
A spokesperson said: “This condition has never been met; Tarmac have been in breach for over ten years.
“This is despite the council planning officers setting deadlines for compliance at each of their annual site visits, which the council has consistently failed to enforce.
“Quarry management maintains that foul water ‘just drains away’ – yes, into the River Ure.”
They added after the exhibition: “Tarmac’s PR company have clearly put a lot of effort into this exhibition.
“It was full of glossy images and reassuring promises of how they will act if they get planning permission.
“But how can we possibly trust their word after the way they have acted over the past ten years and the untrue statements they put in their previous application which they used to falsely justify their claim that ‘no amendments are deemed necessary to the existing site controls’.”
Campaign group Stop Ure Pollution (SUP) has also raised concerns about the alleged breach regarding the treatment of foul water.
A spokesperson said: “With regular testing throughout 2025, Stop Ure Pollution showed that the River Ure is polluted and often not safe to bathe in.
“All of our communities and local businesses should be working together to clean up our river and that includes North Yorkshire Council and Tarmac.”
They added: “Tarmac has, at its Preston-under-Scar quarry, been flagrantly in breach of conditions regarding the discharge of foul and surface water for the past ten years.
“North Yorkshire Council should not consider any further applications from Tarmac until this is rectified.
“And it should see this as an opportunity to live up to its newly adopted Local Nature Recovery Strategy, which aims to halt the decline of habitats. The decline of rivers such as the Ure must be a priority.”
After the exhibition at Preston-under-Scar village hall, SUP called for a hydrological drainage study to be conducted to understand the complex flow of foul and surface water from the quarry sites.
In response to the criticism, Tiffany Cox, strategic planning manager at Tarmac, said: “We pride ourselves in being a responsible business and working closely with our neighbours.
“Whilst unintentional, we accept that our previous handling of complaints fell short of our high standards, and we have put more robust processes in place to ensure this does not happen again.
“We have now submitted the outstanding planning condition to North Yorkshire Planning Authority, and this is waiting to be validated.
“We withdrew our initial Section 73 application specifically to reflect on community feedback and allow time to rebuild relationships through a more thorough, open consultation process.
“We are committed to working collaboratively with the community moving forward.”
The new consultation exercise will run until February 9.
For more details, visit wensleyquarry.tarmac.com
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