A planning chief has called for 'more consideration' of residents' concerns after an application to expand quarrying operations in Northwich was passed.

Cheshire West and Chester Council's planning committee rubber-stamped an application to extract an extra 5.58m tonnes of sand from Crown Farm Quarry, resulting in 252 HGV movements a day.

Permission had already been granted in 2020 for extraction up until 2042, with restoration pencilled in for 12 months after that. The new approval will see the additional work carried out within the original time frame.

The total number of HGVs movements generated by the development will be on average 252 per day (126 in and 126 out).

Located six miles to the south-west of Northwich, Crown Farm Quarry lies north of the A556 (Chester Road) and Oakmere village, with Stoneyford Lane to the east and Station Road to the west.

At the meeting, Delamere resident Alison Rodgers addressed the committee and raised a number of concerns, including the impact of light from floodlighting at the existing quarry.

She said: "Over the Christmas period in 2023 and New Year it was terrible. It was on for 24 hours.

"There was supposedly nobody on site. There were excuses given (such as) ‘oh there’s a power outage’.

"Sorry, if you live in Delamere we are used to regular outages, you don't move to Delamere without having candles. So why was nobody on top of the issue?"

The quarry currently covers 333 acres of land. More than 50 acres is known as the Crown Farm Nature Reserve, which is land that has already been quarried and restored. The nature reserve is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, with funding from Tarmac - the firm which operates the quarry.

Stephen Cowan,  representing Tarmac, told the committee his workforce took pride in ‘trying to be good neighbours’.

He said: "We aim also to be good custodians of the land and do work to bring these areas back to nature. These areas are now taken on by Cheshire Wildlife Trust because of the (high) standard (of restoration).

"In this application, we've agreed to an extended after-care period - on top of the normal five years - of plus 25 years, which is a very big commitment from the company."

A high-voltage electricity supply and two fixed electrical substations have also been approved.

Members voted to back the scheme unanimously, but committee chairman Cllr Gina Lewis added: "Obviously, this quarry has been there for some considerable time, but there does seem to be a little lack of consideration at some points for residents.

"So, if I could ask Mr Cowan as the applicant, you could actually confer with your company and see whether you can actually come to some terms, but help some of the residents.

"There aren't many residents, obviously, within this general area, but I do feel from the comments we've heard from Ms Rogers, that there needs to be a little bit more communication and consideration."