Restoration of a former quarry back to agricultural use is to take another six years after delays meant it couldn’t be completed in time.

Extraction of sand and gravel at the 113-hectare Flixton Park Quarry near Bungay ceased in September 2018, with conditions attached to it by Suffolk County Council requiring the site to be restored by September 30, 2021.

But Breedon Trading Ltd requested an extension for site restoration until September 2027 as a result of a number of delays – six years later than originally planned.

In its submission, the firm said: “There have been a number of factors contributing to the delay to the site’s restoration including the ongoing pandemic, the need to line the site to an appropriate specification, an unpredictable market for suitable restoration material and the sale of the site by the previous operator to the company.

“Synchronising the restoration of the application site with that of the neighbouring plant site and the Homerfield extension means that the
remaining parts of Flixton Park Quarry can be restored as one operation and the long history of quarrying at Flixton Park brought to a conclusion.

“Apart from the date by which restoration is completed no other revisions to the manner in which the above permission is implemented are proposed or sought.”

Suffolk County Council’s development and regulation committee on Tuesday morning unanimously agreed to the revised timeline, despite objections from Homersfield Parish Council.

The parish council said it was inappropriate for a conservation area and recommended a three-year extension instead.

Division councillor Judy Cloke said that she had sympathy with the parish council but added: “I think it’s important that the whole site is restored all together rather than piecemeal.”

Extraction at the site first began in the 1950s, with 856,000 tonnes of sand and gravel having been sourced from the land.

The new approval of an extension means the site must be restored in its entirety by September 30, 2027.