Opponents of plans to concentrate the county’s quarries around Braintree and Witham have welcomed a scaling back of original plans.

More than half of the 41million tonnes of planned gravel extraction in Essex up to 2029 was earmarked for our area under proposals submitted last year.

But an independent inspector has told Essex County Council (ECC) to scale back plans for Bradwell Quarry, a 202-hectare site between Rivenhall Airfield and Coggeshall.

See this week's Times for the full story