Cheslyn Hay to see hundreds of quarry lorries each week

Hundreds of lorries will flood a South Staffordshire village each week for decades after plans to quarry an area the size of 15 football pitches near homes were approved.

Excavators have been given the go-ahead to resume quarrying at Campions Wood Quarry in Cheslyn Hay and 100 lorries a day are set to use the 30-acre site near Cheslyn Hay Sport & Community High School and the village's 350-pupil primary school.

More than 2.6 million tons will be dug out of the quarry – 850ft from junction 11 of the M6 – over 30 years up to 2042.

Concerns over traffic, dust and noise have been raised by residents and councillors who say the news the quarry will be brought into use, 15 years after it was last active, has come completely out of the blue.

Daily up to 2,000 tons of material will be removed, around a third of which will be clay to make high quality bricks and ceramic tiles. Lorries will run to and from the site, off Wolverhampton Road, between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, and from 7am-5pm on Saturdays.

A substantial boundary between the dig site and homes will work as a buffer zone, keeping noise within acceptable limits, Secretary of State Eric Pickles ruled.

He has ordered the installation of wheel-wash facilities at the site while a population of great crested newts must be relocated.

Once conditions are met work could start immediately.

Builder Scott Kelly, who lives in Falcon Close to the north-east of the development, said the resumption of quarrying would send shockwaves through the village.

"The traffic is going to be ridiculous, it's bad enough as it is," the 39-year-old said. "Just down the road from the quarry you've got the school and during the school run it's crazy.

"It will be a real pain with that number of lorries every day."

The father-of-one added: "There's going to be clanking and banging for hours on end every day."

Essington councillor David Clifft, whose ward will be affected by traffic to and from the site, said: "It's going to be gridlock with that volume of traffic."