Hills Quarry Products open new quarry

Upwood Quarry opens for business as Tubney Wood site comes to the end of its operational life

HILLS Quarry Products have marked the start of 2012 by opening a new quarry which is expected to have an operational life of 15 years. Upwood Quarry is located on the A338 Wantage Road, half a mile from the company’s Tubney Wood site, in Oxfordshire, which has reached the end of mineral extraction.

Group director Alan Mackenzie said: ‘With Tubney Wood coming to the end of its operational life, Upwood Quarry is its natural successor. There are an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of reserves in Upwood, which will supply dry screened sand and a range of limestone products.’

Planning permission for Upwood Quarry was given in 2009 and the infrastructure has now been put in place to carry out mineral extraction work. The method of extraction will be the same as at Tubney Wood and will work the same geological deposit of high-quality sand and serve the same markets.

Progressive restoration of the site will take place with three of Upwood’s four fields being backfilled to restore the land to agriculture at the original ground levels. The fourth and largest field is to be restored without infilling at a reduced level with minimum overburden and transferred to the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, who will manage it for nature conservation and habitat biodiversity.