Quarry to be created at old ICI works

May 1 2009 by Lex Brown, Irvine Herald

A MASSIVE sand and gravel quarry to provide materials for the M77 extension and a new clean coal power station at Hunterston is to be created on part of the former ICI explosive works bordering Irvine Golf Club.

The project to extract up to 340,000 tons of material a year will create 33 full-time jobs over the next 25 years.

North Ayrshire planners have given the go-ahead for Glasgow based NPL (Scotland) to start work on the site.

The first phase – expected to begin next year – will involve the demolition of former explosives magazines and other industrial buildings.

Sand and gravel will be worked in eight separate phases, each lasting between two to three years.

Only one extraction phase will be worked at a time and progressive restoration will follow each phase.

Extracted material will be washed and screened with waste water and silt pumped into settlement tanks.

The operation will run for 12 hours each weekday with shorter working hours at the weekends.

Up to six lorries an hour will load up at the site with access from the existing A78 dual carriageway.

Much of the materials will be used for major projects across Central Scotland including the motorway extension, the Clyde Windfarm, Glasgow Airport rail link, the Whitlees Windfarm extension and projects associated with the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Operators say they can work hand-in-hand with local sand and gravel company Hugh King because they will be extracting different types of materials.

Two objections were lodged by an individual from Stevenston concerned about wildlife on the site and Chemring, who run the former Nobel Explosives operation.

Chemring claim their neighbour notification was incomplete.

This week North Ayrshire Council’s planning committee approved the scheme for what will be the sole large-scale sand quarry in Ayrshire following closure of the Loudoun Hill operation on the outskirts of Darvel.

But the council imposed a lengthy list of 36 conditions, including addressing the concerns of Scottish Natural Heritage and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.