About

The site has recently been selected by the Council as a preferred Site within Hertfordshire County Council’s (HCC) draft Minerals and Waste Local Plan (MWLP).

Assuming that the site is confirmed by the Council as a preferred site in the adopted document, it would take a period of years to complete all the necessary assessments, submit the planning application, obtain appropriate permissions, and prepare the site for extraction. As such, we do not have certainty the scheme will go ahead and there is certainly no proposed start date. However, you can find a summary of some of the key points below, with more detail in the FAQs section of this website.

• Our indicative scheme proposes to extract the sand and gravel in the eastern part of the site first, following which we would work the western part.
• As the scheme only seeks to extract sand and gravel, no blasting is required to extract the aggregate.
• There would be a buffer zone of a minimum 100m between the extraction area and any residential properties. Bunds (soil mounds that provide screening) and other mitigation measures such as planting would be employed to significantly reduce any environmental impacts on our neighbours.
• During the extraction process, the sand and gravel is inherently damp so there would be limited scope for dust. Dust can be created during the stripping and moving of soils which is similar to that of agricultural operations, such as ploughing fields.
• There is material (clay and soils) that lies above the mineral deposit on the site (known as overburden). The soil layers would be carefully stripped and retained and used to progressively restore the site. The overburden would be used to restore the site.
• Lorries would not be permitted to go through the villages of Stanstead Abbotts or Hunsdon. The proposed site access would be designed to make it physically impossible for vehicles to turn right.
• No Scheduled Monuments, Ancient Woodlands or Listed Buildings would be lost. Mitigation measures, such as buffers between our operations and sensitive sites, would be included to ensure they are protected. A Cultural Heritage Management Plan would be prepared to inform the working and restoration proposals.
• Furthermore, in view of the landscape and ecological sensitivity of the site, Tarmac would also prepare a Landscape and Ecology Management Plan, to inform the working and restoration proposals.
• We would safeguard existing Public Rights of Ways, which would remain available for use through all phases of the scheme. We are also looking to see how we can improve connectivity of paths across the site both during and after mineral extraction.
• The site has the potential to deliver construction materials (and receive soils and clays from construction projects) for the construction of Village 7 and the Gilston Estate – alleviating construction traffic on local roads. In fact, there is the potential to directly supply Village 7 without the need for traffic to use the public highway at all as the two sites adjoin one another.
• We would progressively restore the site to agricultural land and nature conservation as well as increase public access as part of the restoration scheme for Briggens. This is in line with the restoration strategy referred to in the Site Brief in the draft MWLP.
• It would not be turned into a landfill site taking active or domestic waste afterwards. Any claims to the contrary are false.
• We have included a restoration concept based on an agricultural led landform with elements of nature conservation and recreation. The Council have carried this forward as part of the Site Brief under the draft MWLP.

The Site Brief for Briggens proposed in the draft MWLP refers to the need to improve the local footpath network, particularly east – west. The brief also references the creation of a buffer to screen the site and minimise disruption, this includes the strategic planting of hedgerows and trees.

These recommendations reflect the outline schemes and supplementary information already submitted by Tarmac to the Council when promoting the site as part of the previous version of the Minerals Plan. Such schemes and information remain valid but may be updated or refined as part of our response to the draft MWLP.