Posted on June 30, 2025
PROPOSALS to extract 11.5 million tonnes of sand and gravel from a site at Moreton will be decided on Monday (June 30).
Despite the impact on the landscape, Moreton village and loss of good quality farmland, Dorset Council’s strategic planning committee is being recommended to approve the plans for two adjacent sites at Hurst Farm and Station Road.
More than 60 people or organisations commented on the plans, most objecting to extra traffic, noise, dust, and the loss of farmland.
An officer report says the need for building materials in the county outweighs the negative impacts of the scheme, being proposed by Raymond Brown Quarry Products.
Extraction is being proposed at the rate of 600,000 tonnes a year over 20 years with a further five years for restoration. The Hurst Farm site is to be worked first, taking ten years, with the operation then moving to the Station Road site over another decade – with the works, at peak, generating 200 HGV movements each working day, 100 in and 100 out from the sites.
The development, if approved, would also see a conveyor built over Station Road.
There has been opposition, locally, to the use of the land for quarrying since an initial public meeting in the village hall outlined the likely impacts and timescale – with the quarrying to be carried out in phases over several years with the site eventually being restored and the retained site office converted for use as a visitor centre.
Both areas, which amount to 166 hectares, are allocated for mineral extraction in the county’s adopted Dorset Minerals Site Plan 2019.
Under the mineral plan the area is obliged to maintain a “landbank” of at least seven years of future sand and gravel supplies.
Areas of woodland, known as Hurst Heath and Ragged Firs and open farmland, separate the two land parcel along either side of the B3390.
A mineral processing plant (washing and grading) and stockyard will be located at Hurst Farm to serve both sites. If agreed a proposed overland conveyor will be installed with a designated crossing point over the B3390 to safely transfer the mineral from Station Road for processing at Hurst Farm.
Dorset council officers say the proposals in the long term, will create a significant biodiversity gain with both sites restored predominantly to water and wetland, creating a new lake, with some agriculture and recreation. The creation of a permissive footpath/bridleway route is to be offered by the company in perpetuity between Moreton village and Moreton Station, which would be a benefit to the local community.
Two homes are within 100metres of the boundary of the site with rural businesses nearby including the Walled Garden and Moreton Equestrian Centre and Sculpture by the Lakes.
Moreton Gravel Conveyor Belt In Profile
Moreton Gravel Current Land Uses
Moreton Gravel Station Road Montage Showing Conveyor
Moreton Gravel Visitor Centre
Moreton Gravel Conveyor Over Station Road
