SAND and gravel could be quarried from land at Manor Farm, in Holdfast.

Cemex UK is applying for planning permission for the project, which would take place over three years plus a further 12 months to restore the area.

The company is holding a public exhibition tomorrow (Saturday, December 4) at Queenhill Women’s Institute Hall, for residents to learn more about the plans.

If the scheme is approved then the sand and gravel would be dug out during three or four ‘campaigns’ a year, each lasting four to six weeks.

A campaign would involve bringing a tracked excavator and two or three dumpers on to the site to strip soil, form or remove bunds and dig sand and gravel.

Material would be stored below ground level adjacent to a temporary wharf, constructed to allow material to be transported by barge along the River Severn to Ryall House Farm Quarry, where it will be processed for onward sale.

Cemex is keen to stress that no material will leave the site by road, and that for seven to nine months of the year the only activity taking place on site will be the loading of barges.

It is proposed to return the land, including two ponds that are likely to be created by the work, to agricultural use after the project is completed.

Local resident Tony Hopwood hopes people will take the opportunity to find out more about the plans during tomorrow’s exhibition, which takes place from 10am-4pm.

“We will need to make sure that they abide by any planning conditions that are made,” he said.