I am writing with reference to the article in the Gazette on February 11 under the heading: “Villagers vow to fight gravel pit proposals”.

While being very pleased to see the article in print, may I make an important correction to one word in the first paragraph. You wrote of plans for a quarry near Alresford, but this should have read “in”

Alresford.

Essex County Council put on a display showing the proposals for this site at a meeting on January 19.

Thanks to the hard work of our district councillor, Gary Scott, who made sure all villagers were well aware of the meeting, it was well attended.

At this meeting, I was told by a council representative the proposed quarry would be a mere 70 metres from the back gardens of properties in Wivenhoe Road.

This road is mainly private houses, but also contains two care homes and a nursery school. It is also one of the main roads through the village and is most certainly in, and not just near, Alresford.

Alresford has been providing sand and gravel for Essex for countless years and we feel we have done our bit. This latest site pushing so close into the heart of our village, bringing with it the problems of air and noise pollution, possible subsidence, loss of property values, difficulties with insurance, to name but a few, is really pushing things just a bit too far.

E M Smerdon
Wivenhoe Road
Alresford