Plans to extract gravel from Palmers Farm in Wootton have been reignited this week, with applicant Wight Building Materials now seeking permission for around 40 lorries a day to travel down a quiet residential street. It was in 2022 that plans were submitted by Wight Building Materials (WBM) to begin operations at Palmers Farm, to the north of Wootton. The plan stalled because of environmental and road safety concerns, in particular concerns about the use of Brocks Copse Road and Alverstone Road for vehicle movements. Now, the application is being readvertised with revised documents submitted to the Isle of Wight Council. It is hoped that approval will be given for lorries to leave the site at the north end of Palmers Road, travelling down the residential street onto Lushington Hill instead of Brocks Copse Road and Alverstone Road. All loaded lorries will travel from Wootton to St George’s Down in Newport via Fairlee Road and Coppins Bridge, whilst unloaded lorries will return via Downend, Briddlesford Road and Station Road to Wootton. It’s said that the site will use 20-tonne lorries, with around 40 return journies completed each day between the hours of 08:00 and 16:00 – around 3 inbound and 3 outbound lorries travelling down Palmers Road every hour, for the equivalent of 262 days of the year. 
If mineral extraction is not permitted at Palmers Farm, WBM only has enough sand and gravel reserves to last for another 2 to 3 years. Palmers Farm is the last known significant resource of sand and gravel on the Island and can deliver up to 10 years security of supply. Other options include Crockers Farm, but that would only yield enough minerals for a 7-year period, and Cheverton Gravel Pit – for which a planning application has already been submitted. A concerned local has told Island Echo:
“We are talking about 40 lorries per day going down a relatively narrow residential road and pulling out on to the main Ryde-Newport road. “This is going to be a massive problem for the village of Wootton”.
Oddly, an ecology report submitted with the planning application redacts any mention of the word ‘badger’ from the public document.
Bonkers to think that just because one greedy person wants more money they can create a plan to deminish the surrounding area and cause havoc for locals. I’m sure the Ramblers will be using it as another excuse toctry walk through Osborne
If last Sunday shows us anything it’s that Alverstone road and surrounding areas can’t handle the traffic and you struggle to fit 2 cars down there let alone one huge lorry. So dangerous just to extract money for the farmer
Palmers farm can supply 10 years security but will cause massive problems to the village of Wootton. There are better alternatives to give the Island a 10 year supply as stated in this news report Crockers Farm 7 years and Cheverton Gravel Pit between them they will give the same amount of supply as Palmers Farm which are obviously not the last know significant resource of sand and gravel on the Island.
I do like the irony in the fact that one resident in wootton, whose gate is just after the left turn at the traffic lights by the pub at the top of wootton hill, has the “WAGE” Sign attached to the front gate, thus indicating support for prevention of gravel extraction, whilst having a gravel covered driveway, directly behind the gate.
Are you dumb? Would you accept 40 x 32 tonne lorries rumbling past your front door everyday down a residential street. There is no shortage, they are extracting gravel at the moment and shipping/selling it to the mainland for a tidy profit.
so, your ok with it being extracted somewhere else, but NIMBY
Yes, somewhere else that isn’t surrounded by residential properties and has the infrastructure to accept 40 lorries per day for 10 years.
it already has the infrastructure – a perfectly good road – that is all it needs and it will happen.
you are just another NIMBY that expects others to put up with disruption, but not your peace and quiet eh – self self
Ahhh, its the classic ‘Hi, I’m Dean and i’m a HGV driver’ comment. He’s currently dreaming of his daily jolly following extraction at Palmers Farm and onward delivery to the mainland suppliers £££
FYI, read the engineers report, the road is not fit for purpose!
Every road on this Island is a cart horse road that over the years has been tarmac more house development means more lorry deliveries including gravel extraction to produce stone of different sizes to maintain this Island, but I agree it’s not what anyone wants but society has caused us to develop hence raw materials are required
I think you should go and have a look at the road yourself. Not a question of NIMBY but greediness from the farmer and materials cie as we have enough gravel on the island. It would be dangerous to drive and meet oncoming traffic, dangerous for the lorries to turn into the high street, residents would inhale silica, which is not good news, the road would be damaged as it has not been made for 50 (not 40) lorries a day, noise, mud on the road because apparently the gravel would be wet and forget the environmental issues, not just for the flora and fauna but also for people living in the Woodside area as the gravel in the ground helps containing the water. There is always water going down the track even in July.
Yes of course. Somewhere else not affecting homes and green habitat. It’s currently a lovely quiet area.
Yes exactly Steve, we all use goods and products which we would rather not have produced right next door to us. That’s why towns and cities usually keep residential and industrial areas separate. They used to teach critical thinking in schools, shame you bunked that class.
I live along the seafront in Ryde and have hundreds of vehicles of all sizes going past my front door every day. I see the number nine bus every ten minutes past my door – they are 11 to 14 tonnes each, add on the number 2/3/8 buses, plus tesco/coop delivery lorries, plus deliveries to the businesses and we have a steady stream of traffic, every second of the day.
the new electric buses are about 18 tonnes
stop whining about your little residential road getting busier…. the site will use 20-tonne lorries, with around 40 return journeys completed each day between 0800 and 1600 on weekdays only
.
You chose to live in such an area.
And was it a nice quiet residential property when you bought it ? Did these vehicles suddenly arrive one day without you having any say ? Low resolution thinking.
Sorry John, Your not trying to compare your 2 bed smoke ridden bedsit in the hell pit of Ryde esplanade to my 6 bed detached house in a quiet cul-de-dac are you? Fair play though.
The main routes through Ryde have the highway specification to accept these HGVs and have been designed for this specific purpose. A minor residential Road in Wootton has not been designed for constant HGV use.
Mac. Are you dumb? The article clearly states 20-tonne lorries. Maybe your campaign will stand a better chance if you stick to the facts and not make stuff up to make it sound worse than it really is.
That can’t be your name. 😉 Incredible.
You refer to the article and not the planning application documentation which is your first mistake (apart from the name). So if we say 16-18 tonne of gravel is extracted per load (Net weight), how much do you think the total weight is including the actual vehicle (Tare weight). I can certainly tell you its well over 20 tonne. (gross weight)
What makes you think gravel is being extracted and sent to the mainland, what proof do you have????
Being in the construction industry, i have proof, trust me. Its happening at the moment. 4 lorries a day are leaving the island and supplying mainland suppliers with gravel. Must be a mainland shortage and not an IOW shortage!!
Buckingham Palace and Kings guard never looks so good
Fun getting out onto the main road.
Since we aren’t building any housing nor anything else, what do we need gravel for?
How about for the sea defences as Island so desperately needs?
As a new resident to Wootton Bridge , I use palmers lane/ rd to access my property in B.C.Rd and as most Island Roads are built on farm tracks , Palmer’s is no exception. Driving along it you can feel there is no solid foundation , it can only just support the family Car . J.R.
Do they understand that the entire road would have to be relaid with stronger foundations? Look what happened to New Road after the rebuild of Darwin Escapes homes. The heavy traffic destroyed the road and nearly a decade later they have still not fully fixed the road. The traffic is terrible with noise and it unsettles the building foundations due to the clay they are built on.
Thats okay, there is lots of gravel that they can use in the concrete to shore the foundations up
Dont talk rubbish that had nothing to do with uit its been like that for over seventy years even in the 60s and 70s when dozens of coaches went to warners and little canada a day
Deck….guess you aren’t familiar with the roads? The smaller coaches going to those holiday camps went down New Road near the bottom. This is talking about Palmers Rd and Brooks Copse Lane…..neither of which were remotely designed for heavy traffic of the type described.
A ludicrous proposal!
Do we really need the gravel, Do we really need so much development. We’re full up…
Nearly every house on the island has materials supplied by wight building materials
Around the world there are mineral extraction sites using a conveyor belt system to carry the product long distances to a convenient location to load the lorries. It would be easy to run a conveyor to a loading point just off Racecourse Roundabout with its own dedicated access.
easy, .. yes
affordable / cost effective,… proberbly not
Love your spelling! 🙂 It should be that way!
They are talking about 20t lorries, rather than 20t loads every time. Those will be smaller 2 axle tippers, not huge 8 wheelers. They won’t be causing any detriment to the use of the road there at all because they have the same wheelbase as a skip lorry, and with the amount of traffic on the island slowing them down there is no way they will achieve 3 return loads in an hour. I would understand if the proposal was for 8 wheelers running in and out all day, much bigger and much heavier trucks, but the smaller 4 wheelers would cause no issues at all. Its a good thing for the island to be able to call on its own resources
“They are talking about 20t lorries, rather than 20t loads every time”
NO! The application states: The site will use 20 tonne load 4-axle lorries (MGW ~ 32 Tonnes)
FYI this is a 20 tonne tipper truck,.. for Aggregates and materials delivery
http://www.ashvilleinc.com/ashvilleaggregates/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/09/tipper-4-23.jpg
“no way they will achieve 3 return loads in an hour”
erm,.. they’ll have more than one truck!
I’m quite aware of what an 8 wheeler is mate, but thank you
Yes having read the revised app they say 20t load lorries, not 20t lorries as the article says. It does also say they will use 2 lorries on the haul route for the day.
There is no way an 8 wheeler, on the specified route, makes 19 loads a day. Not a chance..
It’s a shame that people are trying to block the opportunity for commerce here.
I stand by what I say, and yes 8 wheelers aren’t ideal for that road but they can’t use church road for obvious reasons. It is also important to remember that there are no width or weight restrictions in place on Palmers Road, so there is no reason for large vehicles not to be able to use it for access.
They will be 8 wheelers, believe me.
This has been covertly in the works for some time, hedgerow has been removed gates erected without planning permission. Reynard’s building site has caused no end of trouble. The lane has been churned up making it difficult for access, the owner of Palmers farm couldn’t care less! Im sad to think of how this would impact Buttercup Barn, who have had to face disruption from the building site and now this.
no planning permission required
I get we need to extract building materials but why not make a road to access off Brook Copse road and then access that via Alverstone road.
Because it would cost too much. Why not exit through the Barton Estate ? I can see that happening !
Also, the sign says Wootton, Whippingham and Arreton residents against, what on earth has it got to do with anyone from Arreton?
Absolute moanpocalypse
Brock’s Copse and Alverstone are two particularly lovely roads – due to be defiled.
To those who think that we need gravel, therefore people should have their lives and properties blighted by a 20 ton lorry going past their house every 10 minutes, consider, most of us drive cars, so if Ford want to put a factory on Wootton Rec, that’s just fine and dandy ? The extraction of gravel is an industrial process and as such should not take place in residential areas. Palmers Farm may be the best gravel site WBM have left but there are other places we can get it from. It seems WBM are a bit of a hole (no pun intended) and residents in Wootton are going to suffer to get them out of it. Don’t think so.
As a motorcyclist I am absolutely disgusted with the way all these extraction sites leave vast quantities of gravel on the roads,never swept up, it’s ludicrous that they get away with this behaviour, it’s dangerous or possibly lethal to two wheeled users.