Cornwall Against Dean Superquarry (CADS) responds to the Government’s decision on Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay.

On 25th June 2018 Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy announced that the UK government has rejected the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon
proposal, stating that it does not meet the requirements for value for money.

CADS has closely followed the decision-making process surrounding the tidal lagoon project, because Mark Shorrock, the chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power, also owns Shire Oak Quarries Limited, a company that intends to re-open and massively upscale the disused Dean Quarry in Cornwall in order to supply rock armour for the tidal lagoon projects. CADS has campaigned for three and a half years against this threat to the local environment and marine life.

CADS is a volunteer action group, which was formed in January 2015, after Mark Shorrock announced at a public meeting his plans for a superquarry at Dean Point near St Keverne on the Lizard Peninsula. This sent a shockwave through our small Cornish community because it threatened to cause environmental damage to the newly appointed Manacles Marine   Conservation Zone, through which Shire Oak Quarries planned to ship millions of tonnes of rock armour.

CADS supports renewable energy but not at any cost to the environment. It is essential that green energy means green energy from start to finish, including the supply chain.

We have only ever sought to protect the landscape and seascape of the Lizard Peninsula.  Dean Quarry is located within the Coverack to Porthoustock Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and it extends seawards into the Manacles Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ). The quarry also immediately abuts a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and South West Coast Path. The impact of Shire Oak Quarries implementing their super-sizing plans would not only have a devastating effect on the        environment and coastal ecology here, but would also damage local businesses that rely on the protected status and untouched nature of the area.

CADS has always maintained that if the Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay project was as valuable and well-founded as its proponents claim, the business case would not depend on getting rock from Dean Quarry, rather than from other existing and more sustainable sources.

CADS understands the Government’s decision, as we have long believed, as tax payers, that this area of renewable energy should be opened up to competition and other more       progressive methods of harnessing tidal energy. We, of course, sympathise with those    businesses and individuals that were hoping to benefit from the Swansea project for revenue and employment.

CADS welcomes the timely UK government announcement, made on 8.6.2018, that pledges 41 new Marine Conservation Zones and the blocking of harmful dredging and development in all these protected areas.

CADS would like to take this opportunity to thank ALL supporters for their generosity of spirit, time and donations for what has been a testing three and a half years. Without your support our campaign would simply not have been possible. Despite yesterday’s decision, the future of Dean Quarry remains unclear. Shire Oak Quarries still owns the site and has not divulged its plans for the future. CADS will continue to fight any major development plans at Dean Quarry.

To watch Greg Clark makes this announcement please CLICK HERE.