Rowley Regis quarry earmarked for homes and waste plant

Now ambitious multi-million pound plans have been unveiled which will transform the old Edwin Richards Quarry, creating new jobs and then new homes.

New housing and a waste treatment plant are planned for the site in Rowley Regis.

The site in Portway Road is now co-owned by Lafarge Tarmac, Hanson and FCC Environment who are joining forces to regenerate the site in a project set to span 30 years. The walls have already created a blank canvas for graffiti artists.

The site operated as a quarry for more than 100 years until work stopped in 2008 when it ran out of stone. It was then used for landfill for domestic and commercial waste.

Development plans will see a treatment plant which is required to process materials to fill the empty quarry space.

It is proposed that materials, such as soil and rubble are processed at a building which currently stands on the site. The processing includes soil washing and removing metal from broken rubble.

Once the quarry hole is filled, housing will be built on the edge of the site. It is not at present proposed to build directly on top of the old quarry.

The treatment plant will create 20 permanent jobs during its operational phase. Construction jobs will also be created.

Spokesman Steve Sanders said the complete restoration would take between 25 and 30 years to complete and the views of residents were being sought.

He said: "Part of the restoration process is consulting with people on how they want the restoration to help them shape the restoration.

"Part of that will include opening significant parts of the site to restoring.

"It cannot just be left as it is. It is a former quarry, it needs managing and parts of it are dangerous. If people wander on to the quarry face it is a dangerous place to be.

It needs to be restored and a significant part of the restoration is being open to the public."

FCC Environment hope to submit a planning application to Sandwell Council before the end of the year outlining the restoration and timeframe.

"With the application that we are going to make at the end of the year to Sandwell Council, part of it is going to be about the detail and the restoration side and part of it will be an outline looking at the potential to create some residential at the fringes of the site because the site is so big," Mr Sanders said.

"That residential part alone would be a multi million pound development, it is really difficult to say what the cost would be."

Mr Sanders added that the planning application will also set out a definitive timescale for what will be happening at the site.

"That is another key thing – if I was living in Rowley Regis I would want to know what was happening and when it was going to happen.

"In terms of the process, we are undertaking all the works that are required to get our planning application together and that will be done during the summer and autumn. We are then going to bring our plans back with another exhibition which will take place in early November and we will then seek their views on what we are going to propose to the council before we put the application in," he added.

FFC Environment is a waste and resource management company.