A councillor has expressed concern over a planning application for aggregate recycling of inert waste to take place at a quarry - claiming the volume of traffic it could bring to the area's roads could pose a risk.

The application for aggregate recycling of inert waste to produce non-waste aggregate products at the Esk Quarry near Heads Nook was received on April 30 2020.

Cumbria County Councillor for Corby and Hayton, Roger Dobson said he thinks the roads around Heads Nook that are used by the lorries operating at the Esk Quarry are not suitable for HGVs.

He said: “Sand has been coming out of [the quarry] since 1951, but when planning approval was given in 1951 the vehicles used to extract the sand were merely a quarter of the size of the current vehicles.

“The vehicles are growing enormously, but the roads haven’t changed at all.

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A petition that opposes the application for aggregate recycling at the quarry has been launched and has so far gained 317 signatures.

Following a site visit, Highways England said that the application "would have no additional increase in traffic".

As part of a consultation on the planning process, Highways England added to their response in August 2020: "However, it was noted that there would be an increased amount of loaded HGVs travelling to the site.

"The change to a recycling site will increase loaded HGVs at this location.

"Cumbria County Council are currently in the early design phase of developing a scheme to resolve this."

Eddie Wannop of Eddie Wannop Ltd. said: "There [would be] no increase in traffic at all. We have been operating there for the last 12 years and we have only had one complaint and that was eight years ago.

"Other than that we have not had a single complaint.

"We have had zero incidents."

On concerns about an increase in the volume of traffic, Mr Wannop added: "As I have said, In over 12 years of operation we have had no incidents on the local roads."