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'Visionary future' needed for the Thornborough complex
February 23, 2006, 5:29 pm
Campaign group TimeWatch has called for the recently proposed Thornborough Henges conservation plan to be radically redrafted to reflect the importance of the area.
George Chaplin of Timewatch said: "The threat of quarrying has not been removed by the recent planning refusal but it has given time to take stock and for everyone to agree upon the best future for the whole area."
The Timewatch proposals are:
1) that a much wider 'no quarry zone' is incorporated into the Conservation Plan, extending at least a mile radius from the central monuments.
2) that preservation of all archaeology within the zone is made the top priority.
Quarrying in the vicinity of the Thornborough Henges has caused widespread concern for many years. About half of the original complex has been destroyed, a landfill site is being operated immediately adjacent to the central monuments and quarrying is still ongoing close by at Nosterfield, also within the monument complex.
"Tarmac have not given up in their ambition to extend the existing quarry," said George. "They intend to appeal against the refusal and the danger remains very real for the whole of the remaining surroundings - which they also own and have refused to rule out quarrying. Tarmac's reaction to yesterday's defeat and its insistence that English Heritage is wrong, should be seen as a warning to us all."
"This threat can only be defended against by a unified, visionary conservation plan for the whole area, not a timid and partial one", he added. "Only the best will do for the Thornborough complex if 'half destroyed' isn't to become 'more than half destroyed'."
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