QUARRY bosses hope to have dispelled some of the myths and concerns held by residents about their bid to extend the life of a County Durham site.

Lafarge Tarmac will ask Durham County Council to allow it to keep extracting stone from part of its Thrislington Quarry, near West Cornforth, until 2030.

Current permissions to dig its western quarry run out this year but as the company has taken longer than expected to extract valuable minerals it wants a 15 year extension.

Ross Halley, head of estates for Lafarge Tarmac, said: “There is still some material of such high quality it makes total sense to exhaust that while we’re here.”

Thrislington is one of the UK’s main sites for magnesian limestone which is used for the steel industry and also produces road and building stone and sand for specialist concrete, he added.

He said the quarry supports about 160 jobs and puts £10m a year into the local economy.

Residents used a two-day consultation event, at West Cornforth Community Centre, to find out about the plans and voice their fears about the operation.

A key concern was about dirt left on surrounding roads by traffic from the quarry.

In response Lafarge Tarmac installed new wheel washing machines in December, which it feels have already reduced the mess on roads.

A tunnel being built under the A1(M) between its east quarry, which began operating last year and will do so until 2045, and the west should be complete by about this time next year and remove traffic from Stobb Cross Lane.

Chairman of Cornforth Parish Council Alan Hodgson said: “If it approves the plan the county council has got to use this opportunity to put conditions in place to tackle local concerns, such as wheel washing and no wagon access on to Garmondsway Road once the tunnel is open.”

People were also keen to ensure the long term restoration of the quarry to limestone grassland is not forgotten despite the inevitable set back if the extension is approved.

Mr Halley said phased quarrying of the site had enabled restoration to fields and grassland to begin already and ‘large swathes of green’ will soon be seen.

He is confident it will become an attractive and wildlife-rich area, as the company already has experience of running the Thrislington Plantation national nature reserve with Natural England.

A lake will form in the bottom of the site and parts will not be accessible, to protect nature and public safety, but viewing points will be created.

The firm would like to divert two footpaths, one away from Stobb Cross Road so it runs across countryside rather than alongside the road and another through Rough Furze Quarry to a safer route.

Planning applications to extend an aggregate recycling facility for two years and a readymix concrete plant to 2045 have already been submitted to Durham County Council.