THE FRIENDS OF THORNBOROUGH HENGES

Protecting, Preserving and Enhancing Our Cultural Landscape

NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release, 14/7/04

NORTH YORKSHIRE TREATED LIKE THIRD WORLD COUNTRY

Despite all the adverse publicity over the last 12 months, Tarmac has decided to continue to ride roughshod over popular opinion by applying to extend Nosterfield Quarry near West Tanfield further into the setting of the internationally important Thornborough Henges. It matters not a jot that none of this area is designated for mining in the Local Minerals Plan ~ North Yorkshire County Council is still obliged to consider the application on its merits. Of course, this leaves the public wondering why their rates were used to produce a plan through which a cart and horses can be driven ~ as occurred when the present quarry was approved in 1995.

So now local people and those who want to protect our heritage must gird their loins like David to fight the Goliath of Tarmac’s parent company, Anglo American plc. By destroying what it describes as “this low-grade landscape” and exporting its profits, this international mining conglomerate is treating North Yorkshire like a Third World country. And the current Ladybridge Farm application is just the thin end of wedge.

Within that application, the company expresses its intention to radiate outwards, progressively quarrying all the commercially viable deposits from the farmland on Thornborough Moor, to the east of Upsland and to the north of the Ings Goit beck. Thus, Sutton Howgrave, Kirklington, Carthorpe, Burneston, Well and Snape are in danger of suffering the same fate as the village of Nosterfield, which has had 70% of its hinterland destroyed by quarrying. With sand and gravel already being extracted from similar deposits near Ripon in the south and Scorton in the north, the whole intervening landscape appears ripe for future quarrying.

Accordingly, the Friends of Thornborough Henges are calling upon people throughout this area to nip this exploitation in the bud by joining them in objecting to the Ladybridge Farm application in the strongest possible manner. They should support the Conservation Plan sponsored by English Heritage, attend upcoming parish council meetings, add their names to our petition, and join our letter-writing campaign (see friendsofthornborough.org.uk). Those without access to the web, should send a stamped addressed envelope for printed material to Dick Lonsdale, Kiln Farm, Nosterfield, Bedale, DL8 2QX.

END

Note for Editors:

The Friends of Thornborough Henges is a voluntary group dedicated to saving for the nation the surviving setting of the Thornborough Henges Complex near Ripon in Yorkshire. People can join our campaign by contacting info@friendsofthornborough.org.uk

For further information on this press release,
contact our Publicity Officer on 01609-777480 or Dick Lonsdale on 01677-470608