Opposition towards new quarries has hardened and it is still the most unpopular form of development in Britain, research by strategy consultancy Development Intelligence has revealed.
DI Tracker, an annual survey commissioned by Development Intelligence, is said to show that three-quarters of people would oppose a new quarry in their local area and just one in ten would support it.
The survey, carried out in late 2015, spoke to 2,005 British adults and found that twice as many people would be prepared to support fracking in their area than a quarry. Quarrying also proved to be much less popular than other forms of development including waste facilities and power stations.
Quarrying remains rooted to the bottom of the table for the third year running, with power stations the second most unpopular followed by waste facilities and fracking.
The aggregates industry’s net approval rating was -65%, compared to -58% for waste facilities and -39% for fracking.
Nick Keable, chief executive of Development Intelligence, said that the survey underlined the scale of the challenge facing aggregates companies who want to secure a consent for new developments.
He said: “While housing developments, recycling facilities and even fracking have their supporters, it is clear that hardly anybody wants to see a quarry in their local area.
“There is a huge gap between perception and reality in the aggregates industry. The fact is that with modern noise and dust mitigation technologies and advanced landscaping strategies the vast majority of people are unlikely to even be aware that they live near to there is a quarry. But the industry faces a huge challenge in overcoming this negative public perception.
“The vast majority of firms operating in the sector can boast a proud track record of restoring former quarrying sites and even handing them over to local residents to become parks or public open spaces. Aggregates firms can do much more to sell their success stories to local people and reassure them about the potential impact of their facilities.”
The 2015 survey was carried out by ICM, which interviewed 2,005 British adults between the agers of 28-30 in October 2015, and 400 local councillors between 30 October-7 November 2015.
Data was weighted to be demographically representative of all British adults aged 18+ and all British councillors by devolved/region and party.
