Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter
Plans for a concrete plant including a mixing tower and cement silos have left people living in a nearby housing estate worried and upset.
A public meeting was held this week about Cymru Quarry Group’s proposals for a former aggregate storage yard on the edge of Upper Tumble, Carmarthenshire.
Dozens have people have now objected to the change of use application which Cymru Quarry Group has said would create jobs and be part of its ongoing expansion.
Ward councillor Dot Jones said she and Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith facilitated the well-attended meeting with residents preparing leaflets about it beforehand. Cllr Jones said the site owner was present but not the applicants.
“I explained it would be up to (council) planning officers whether it goes through to the planning committee,” said Cllr Jones.
Objector Rhiannon Jones moved to the Waungoch estate next to Brynteg Yard a decade ago. “Before that we had been living near a scrapyard and we had hell with that,” said Mrs Jones. “We moved to Waungoch because it was a nice quiet area.”
She wasn’t able to attend Monday night’s public meeting because she was away but said her husband did.
Mrs Jones said residents were worried about the type of operation proposed and dust, noise, increase in HGV movements, operating hours and light pollution. “Some of the houses back right onto it,” she said. “It’s a windy area. People hang their clothes out.”
According to Mrs Jones the site’s previous use as an aggregate and storage yard was “nothing on this sort of scale”. She said: “I got some decorative pebbles from there”.
Objectors felt other locations for a concrete plant were more preferable. One said in an email to the council’s planning department: “This is not the right place for a plant like this when there are better facilities within the industrial part of Cross Hands closer to more suitable infrastructure and not next to residential areas.”
A planning statement submitted on behalf of Cymru Quarry Group said the mixing and batching plant would be at the southernmost part of the site, maximising the separation distance between it and the Waungoch estate just to the north.
Palisade fencing and sleeper walls surrounded the the site perimeter, it said, adding that extra planting and landscaping was proposed to provide further screening.
The planning statement said the development would include a batch mixing tower, two 12m high cement silos, water tanks, stocking bays and storage bins and a “washout” settlement tank, with mixer lorries reversing under the tower and filling up with wet mix.
“The loading area will be clad on three sides to ensure and noise and dust are further contained,” it said.
Referring to hours of operation it said some companies needed concrete out of hours and at night-time on weekends, for example road maintenance firms. It said when this happened Cymru Quarry Group would take extra care to minimise noise.
The site was a coal yard in the 1980s before its more recent use as a family-run aggregate business.
Cymru Quarry Group has seven quarries in south-west Wales including three in Carmarthenshire and five ready-mix plants and it employs more than 200 people. Its new Upper Tumble plant, if given the go-ahead, would create 12 full-time equivalent posts.
In a statement Cymru Quarry Group said: “We work closely with the communities in which we operate and understand the importance of listening to local views as in our role as a responsible business.
“We recognise that local residents and other stakeholders may have views on the application. The planning consultation process is designed to allow those views to be expressed and considered, and we will listen carefully to any concerns that are raised as part of this process.”
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