Disastrous plans for a huge quarry on the outskirts of Coggeshall are expected to be submitted this month to Essex County Council.

Blackwater Aggregates, the operators of Bradwell Quarry, will submit proposals to extract 13million tonnes of sand and gravel from a 400-acre site over a 20-year period.

The quarry, when finished in the 2040s, would be vast and will be turned into a flood alleviation scheme complete with a huge dam near the historic Dick Nunn’s Bridge in the Blackwater River valley - a haven for wildlife, including otters and kingfishers.

About 100 homes in Coggeshall, Kelvedon and Feering were affected by a 1-in-1,000-year flood in 2001 and the Environment Agency received a lot of criticism for not maintaining the River Blackwater properly.

But due to the lack of Government money, the EA was forced to look for a partner to fund any new flood mitigation projects.

Step forward Blackwater Aggregates, which has links to Gent Fairhead, the company behind the as-yet-unbuilt giant waste incinerator at Rivenhall Airfield near Coggeshall.

The quarry plans, on their own, wouldn’t stand a chance of being given permission because they are outside the scope of Essex County Council’s Minerals Plan and would negatively impact Coggeshall because it would be within 150 metres of some homes in the historic town and will irrevocably change this Roman landscape.

The quarry, masquerading as a benefit to the community, relies entirely on the flood alleviation scheme as an “overriding justification”.

The truth is other natural and less costly schemes could provide a similar benefit without ripping out an entire hill side.

A landowner has already made changes to the reed beds in a section of the river with the support from Defra and consequently, we have had no flooding in Coggeshall; even with the recent heavy rains.

The damage caused to Coggeshall and its community by this quarry is out of all proportion to any benefits the flood alleviation scheme might bring.

It appears that the quarry/flood scheme design and the site have been decided to maximise the amount of extraction, which would be more profitable.

I can only hope that Essex County Council sees sense and refuses permission for this proposed act of environmental vandalism.

Councillor Paul Thorogood, Green Party County Council Candidate for Braintree Eastern Division