Bengeo Field Tree Walk
Why not join us for our Bengeo Tree Walk this coming Sunday 18th September 2016.
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Bengeo Quarry Update
On Tuesday 6 September around 180 residents attended the Stop Bengeo Quarry meeting focused on the latest developments of the Bengeo quarry proposal. The meeting was held at Bengeo Primary School, which is only 320 metres from the site of the proposed gravel quarry.
Campaigners presented a brief update on the main areas of concerns and objections against the quarry proposal, including an overview of the responses submitted to HCC date (all available on HCC website, as well as www.stopbengeoquarry.org.uk).
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Response from Public Health England
Public Health England have responded to plans for gravel extraction north of Bengeo.
As the most senior advisory body in the country, they agree that dust from the quarry could pose a risk and says the quarry developers must show there will be no “additional emissions including dust or particulate matter which could adversely affect the local community.
Their full response is shown below:
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Mark Prisk Addresses Meeting
Local MP Mark Prisk was unable to attend yesterday evening's update meeting at Bengeo Primary School due to parliamentary business. However, this prerecorded video was played to attendees.
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Landscape Report
The County Council's Landscape Officer's report is now available.
The conclusion reads: "Overall the proposed development does not go far enough to compensate for the permanent negative landscape effects due to the creation of an unsympathetic landform profile, and the removal of some distinctive historic landscape features."
» Click here to read the Landscape Report (PDF)...
Supporting Stop Bengeo Quarry campaign
Libby Mountford, Chair of Governors, Bengeo Primary School: "As Governors of Bengeo School we have responsibility, above all, for the wellbeing of our pupils and staff. The proposed excavation of large quantities of sand and gravel from a site so close to the school clearly puts at risk the long term health and safety of more than five hundred young children and nearly fifty staff, since they would be forced to breathe in dust produced by the excavation and travel to and from school on roads made more dangerous by the movements of many heavy lorries. We strongly oppose the application."
Mark Prisk, MP: "I spoke at the Stop Bengeo Quarry event to make clear my support for the campaign. I have been really encouraged by the amount of local support for the cause.. [..] It’s clear this proposal would be bad for people’s health, bad for the local environment and potentially bad for our fresh water supply."
Andrew Stevenson, County Councillor:...
Bengeo Quarry Update Meeting
Tuesday 6 September 2016, 8pm - 9.30pm at Bengeo Primary School
Find out the latest on the Bengeo quarry situation and the Stop Bengeo Quarry campaign. Please join us for updates on the:
* Bengeo quarry proposal
* Stop Bengeo Quarry campaign
* Bengeo Neighbourhood Plan proposal
Participants will include:
* Andrew Stevenson, County Councillor
* Terry Betts, Chairman of Hertford Civic Society
* George Sandell, Chairman of CAGE campaign
* Dr Bryan Lovell, Senior Research Fellow in Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and former President of the Geological Society of London
* Hilary Durbin, Lower Bengeo Residents' Association (LOBRA)
* Ben Penrose, Molewood Residents' Association (MRA)
* Adam Taylor, Watermill Estate Residents’ Association (WERA)
* campaigners from Stop Bengeo Quarry
You will be able to support the campaign:
* buy your "Love Bengeo" bag
* order your Bengeo Field postcards with the winning photos from our competition
* watch the films from the Stop Bengeo Quarry events
* sign up for Stop Bengeo Quarry update newsletters
You may want to read the official statutory responses to the...
Bengeo Field Summer Challenge in August
The task for August is simple and you can do it when you have time:
Visit the Bengeo Field Lonely Oak Tree
Tie a ribbon, a message, or another type of decoration (you will need it to bring with you).
Find the treasure hunt box near the tree and open it. Every child can help themselves to one of the treasured contents of the box. Please just leave your name and age on the list inside. Please make sure to close the box tightly so rain can't damage the content inside.
Find a stamp attached to the tree. Please stamp your Bengeo Field Summer Challenge card, even if it is already full of stamps. If you haven't got a card, there will be brand new ones in the box, so you can start the challenge now.
Enjoy the walk, take some photos, post them on facebook
It's fun and easy. And it starts on Sunday 31 July and finishes end of Sunday...
Chalk, gravel, sand and water: the proposed Bengeo quarry
Our community is debating a proposal to quarry sand and gravel from a field in Bengeo that contains boreholes supplying six million litres of water to Hertford each day. Here Dr Bryan Lovell considers three main questions:
How might quarrying affect the quality of water in the boreholes?
Does the project make sense commercially, when the cost of adequate protection of the water supply is taken into account?
Is it really necessary to extract this particular sand and gravel, so close to those boreholes?
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Waterford Heath Concerns
We have received the following comments from a Waterford Heath volunteer, expressing concern about the planned extraction of gravel at Bengeo Fields:
"The campaign to stop the proposed quarry at Bengeo has been gaining a good deal of local support, understandably.
So I am writing to endorse the campaign and to highlight some things about the neighbouring, former quarry at Waterford Heath – and they are issues which could be relevant to Bengeo.
Many local people from the villages of Waterford and Stapleford, as well as some Bengeo residents, have been involved in the restoration of Waterford Heath, for several years. From our experience it can take decades for places to recover from gravel extraction - and it has been more than a generation now for Waterford Heath, - ie, since it was formerly a quarry.
For us, countless hours of voluntary effort have been involved: lots of campaigning with the various authorities went on before the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust took on...