Hanson Aggregates are closing their Blaise Farm ragstone quarry at Offham in Kent four years after they opened it. The decision to halt production comes, they say, against a background of declining sales and weak demand for Kentish ragstone in local markets.

Most of the stone from the Blaise Farm quarry was always produced as aggregate rather than dimensional stone, although block was sold to the dimensional stone industry.

The quarry was opened in 2001 to supply huge quantities of aggregate to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project and the Kemsley relief road at Sittingbourne. But the lack of any similar-sized contracts in the area and increasing competition from recycled and other materials has led to the decision to shut the site. Five people will lose their jobs.

Ian Cross, Hanson\'s operations director for the South East, expresses his regret at the job losses. He says the quarry will be \'mothballed\', rather than closed, and brought back into production if market conditions improve.