PLANS to expand a quarry on the Somerset-Dorset border have cleared the first hurdle – after Somerset councillors elected to pass the buck to their Dorset counterparts.

Aggregate Industries UK operates Chard Junction Quarry, located south of the former Chard Junction railway station near the village of Tatworth.

The company has applied to extend the quarry to allow an extra 830,000 tonnes of sand and gravel to be extracted over a seven-year period.

Somerset County Council has now decided that Dorset Council can make the final decision on its own, since only a small part of the quarry falls on the Somerset side of the border.

Of the existing site of Westford Park Farm, only a small part of the silt lagoons at the northern tip lie within Somerset’s borders, with the remainder lying within the Dorset area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

Councillor Gemma Verdon – whose Chard South division includes the site – called on the two councils to work together to reach a decision that would please both the company and local residents.

She told a meeting of the council’s regulation committee on Thursday morning (January 13): “Our planning officers’ statement that the effect on Somerset is minimal is egregious, given the significant vehicle movements involved.

“The adverse visual impact on an AONB will be greatest from the Somerset side of the River Axe and will greatly affect Tatworth residents.

“You should use our powers to form a joint committee.”

The application includes proposals for a new internal haul road, which Aggregate argues would reduce the number of vehicle movements on Station Road and the surrounding road network.

A previous application for the site, entailing the extraction of 930,000 tonnes of additional material, was refused by Dorset Council’s strategic planning committee in September 2021.

Councillor Nigel Hewitt-Cooper said deferring to Dorset Council on this matter was a sensible course of action.

He said: “It makes perfect sense to go down this route. We have no control or influence over the other 98 per cent of the site.”

The committee voted unanimously to allow Dorset Council to make the final decision on the proposals, which are expected to come before its strategic planning committee later in the year.