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“Many thanks to all those individuals and organisations who have sent donations to fund our fight to save the setting of the Thornborough Henges for the nation. Opposing a multi-national corporation is an expensive business, so please keep them coming!” |
The story in the attached press cutting has appeared only because the reporter noticed the upcoming agenda item for April 22 and started asking questions. The canny reader will notice that, even in this statement, NYCC has failed (as it has done in response to our direct requests over the past 4 months) to explain why it did not incorporate in its planning decision notice the two conditions relating to ground water and hydrogeology that were added by its committee when deciding to give consent for quarrying. The Friends had hitherto been advised by our lawyer not to go public with our demand for a judicial review which has, at the very least, caused a delay in the potential quarrying of Ladybridge Farm where, we assert, the preparatory work already carried out was undertaken illegally. Our legal challenge will continue.
The most recent press releases by the friends of Thornborough Henges issued on the 5 December 2007 and 10 December 2007 respectively draw attention to the abuse of the conditions applied to the granting of the planning application to quarry Ladybridge Farm
The minutes of the NYCC Planning Regulatory Committee on the 16 January 2007 relating to the planning application by Tarmac are available here.
Our response to Tarmac's ammended current application to quarry Ladybridge Farm was submitted on 22 September 2006. Both the executive summary and the supporting document can be read here.
Tarmac's planning application to extend its Nosterfield Quarry eastwards on to Ladybridge Farm was rejected by North Yorkshire County Council on 21st February, 2006. Notes of the meeting can be read here. However, the mining company has confirmed that it will appeal against this decision, so the campaign must continue to cope with an expensive public enqury.
Recently the decision to quarry Ladybridge has been postponed pending a more thorough and detailed archealogical examination of the Ladybridge Farm site. The result of this archaeological investigation have now been published and have resulted in further objections from English Heritage, the Council for British Archaeology and Dr Harding you can view these objections by clicking on the respective link.
An A4 publicity poster is now available for supporters to print and display [see HELPING page], while the appeal, also accessible from that page, could be used as a flyer.
We have recently had articles printed in the Yorkshire Dales Review and the Newsletter of the Yorkshire Archaeology Society’s Prehistory Section, but neither Heritage Today nor the National Trust’s magazine is prepared to feature the Thornborough Henges controversy. Accordingly, a necessarily short letter has been submitted to the letters page of both magazines. However, the CBA (Yorkshire Group) has a regular item on this subject on the agenda of its committee ~ on which we have a delegate ~ and is considering organising a second conference.
Boroughbridge Town Council has consulted the public on its proposal to create a public park around the Devil’s Arrows, amongst other plans for the town, and has received positive support.
At the request of the Friends, Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice-President of the European Parliament and MEP for Yorkshire & Humberside, visited the henges and the Devil’s Arrows on 18 February 2005. He was briefed on the situation, has offered his full support and will be advising on potential assistance from the EEC.
On 6 March, the Friends issued a news release demolishing Tarmac’s claim that jobs will be lost if Nosterfield Quarry is not allowed to expand on to Ladybridge Farm. John Lowry suggests that Tarmac’s employees should be demanding that the company gives up its plans to expand anywhere near the henges and turns its attentions to opening a replacement quarry in a location already designated by the county council.” Read
English Heritage has completed a detailed aerial survey of the 20 sq km area around the Henges.
In mid-March, Tarmac announced that
it will not now seek to have Thornborough Moor designated as a preferred area for quarrying in the upcoming ten years revision to the Minerals Local Plan;
it will press ahead with its application to quarry the nearby Ladybridge Farm.
This ploy was not unexpected, so the Friends promptly issued its considered response as a news release. We make the point that, if Tarmac’s management is really as concerned as it claims about the views of the public, then it should withdraw the Ladybridge Farm application. They are well aware that it has prompted over 700 written objections from all over the world ~ even before our petitions, which contain thousands of signatures, have been submitted. Read
Atkins Heritage has been appointed to produce the Conservation Plan for the Thornborough Henges complex and its associated landscape by the end of July, 2005. English Heritage’s brief for this work is available to read here. A series of meetings are being arranged to explain the conservation plan to local communities and gain their input.
In November 2002, Tarmac Northern publicly displayed its proposals for future quarrying around the Thornborough Henges. The previous day, the company had presented these proposals to local landowners and representatives of the county, district and parish councils.
Several months later, at an overflowing public meeting, archaeologist Dr Jan Harding of Newcastle University explained the significance of his recent finds in the vicinity of the henges and emphasised the necessity of preserving the wider prehistoric landscape for future study. Concerned members of the public volunteered their services and the Friends of Thornborough started campaigning in earnest.
On 27 March 2003, a conference on the henges was staged at Northallerton, the county town, by the Council for British Archaeology, Yorkshire Group, and the Yorkshire Archaeology Society. Despite personally-addressed invitations, not one county councillor attended. The presenting archaeologists were Prof Geoffrey Wainwright, Dr Peter Addyman, Dr Jan Harding, George Lambrick, Terry Manby, Mike Parker-Pearson, Dave Macleod, David Miles, David Fraser, and Mike Griffiths. The proceedings were not recorded but a press release by the organiser can be read by clicking here. An amended version of the presentation by the Friends, “A Community View of the Archaeology of the Thornborough Henges Complex” is available. ~ Read document
Later in April, BBC 2 repeated its 30 minutes “Time Flyers” programme on “The Stonehenge of the North”. The Friends have been supplied with a 12 minutes abridged version.
Concerned at the adverse media publicity to which it was being subjected, North Yorkshire County Council recruited Simon Smales from Doncaster Borough Council. As Assistant Director of the Planning & Countryside Unit, he was given special responsibility for sorting out the Thornborough Henges issue.
In February 2004, the county council established the Thornborough Henges Consultation & Working Group as a forum to enable stakeholders to “work through consensus and agreement” to evolve an acceptable policy for the area around the henges. Somewhat sceptically, the Friends accepted an invitation to join the group on the basis that it was preferable to participate in any negotiations, knowing that we could continue to criticise other stakeholders if necessary. Certainly, we have been less than happy that, despite our promptings, it took the county council until December to post the minutes on a new website ~ but they are still neither up to date nor, in our view, sufficiently comprehensive.
The most positive output from the Working Group is the acceptance by all stakeholders, including Tarmac Northern, of the proposal by English Heritage that a Conservation Plan be produced for the setting of the henges. This is intended to provide a mechanism for reconciling differences of opinion over the use of this sensitive landscape and will involve close consultation with the local community at all stages of its development by independent consultants. For further information on the Conservation Plan, see our local newsletter (Henge-Talk 2), which explains the importance of supporting this initiative.
In March 2004, English Heritage issued a policy statement on Thornborough Henge. ~ Read document
At an open meeting on 4 March 2004, presentations were made to the Friends by Tarmac Northern, English Heritage and North Yorkshire County Council, and verbatim notes (plus our comments) have been produced. ~ Read document
On 4 July, 2004, Tarmac Northern submitted an application to extend its open-cast destruction of the setting of the henges on to Ladybridge Farm (see map), which is owned by co-applicant Ambrose Almack. See our press release which warns residents of adjacent villages that they are in line for the same treatment as already suffered by those of Nosterfield.
On 16 August, the Friends distributed to local residents advice on how to object in writing to Tarmac's Ladybridge farm application. To view this, click here. For objectors who live elsewhere in the UK or overseas, tailored advice can be found on the LADYBRIDGE page.
John Lowry, the Chairman of the Friends, has legally set up the Thornborough Trust as a repository for funds to protect and preserve the archaeology of the area, and to involve local schools in ongoing research and education.
Ripon Community Archaeology Group has recorded and plotted all archaeological features in West and East Tanfield and in Hutton and Norton Conyers parishes and is now extending its research southwards.
Lord Redesdale, Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group has confirmed that its 146 members are waiting to see Tarmac’s missing archaeological assessment in support of the application to quarry Ladybridge Farm. A far-reaching report into the state of British archaeology by APPAG has revealed that weak government support is putting the country’s heritage at risk.
The Friends have employed an experienced campaigning lawyer to produce legally argued objections to Tarmac's Ladybridge Farm application. Read document
In late January, 2005, English Heritage was at last in a position to issue the agreed brief allowing selected consultancies to submit bids to produce a Conservation Plan covering the setting of the henges. It has taken two years to reach this stage since English Heritage first introduced this idea to the other stakeholders. Once the chosen consultancy has completed its plan, which will involve consultations with all stakeholders and the local communities, there will be a further period of detailed scrutiny by all parties before approval. But, significantly, the county council is now a part-funder of a plan for an alternative heritage-based use of this landscape which its planning officers can balance against the demand for minerals extraction.
Tarmac's archaeological team has posted an Interim Report on its extensive findings at Nosterfield Quarry on www.archaeologicalplanningconsultants.co.uk/mga/projects/noster
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