Quarry company Stancliffe\'s move to get planning permission on reserves of Stanton Moor sandstone in the Peak District in order that the area can maintain the distinctive built heritage created by the stone seems to be nearing a successful conclusion after eight years.

Local residents, as represented by Stanton-in-Peak Parish Council, Friends of the Peak District, Stanton Lees Action Group and Stanton Against the Destruction of the Environ-ment, as well as the Peak District National Park Authority are supporting a proposal by Stancliffe to extend Dale View Quarry but give up, without compensation, a 1952 planning permission to work land at Lees Cross and Endcliffe quarries.

The land-swap proposal now has to go to Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Com-munities and Local Govern-ment, for approval as it departs from National Park policy.

The objection to working Lees Cross and Endcliffe was that they are near the Scheduled Ancient Monument of a Bronze Age stone circle known as Nine Ladies, burial mounds and cairns.

Ironically, \'ecowarriors\' who have occupied Lees Cross and Endcliffe quarries, digging tunnels and constructing tree houses to prevent work from starting there, might have encouraged residents to support the latest proposals.

Julie Kidd, speaking for Stanton Against the Destruction of our Environment (SADE), says that perhaps 50 protestors live on the site.

She says people are frightened to go on to the moor and in any case don\'t want to because there is so much human excrement there. She also says there has been a rise in the crime rate locally since the protestors moved in. She says the residents hope the protestors will leave once the threat of quarrying has been lifted.

"None of us is against quarrying," she told NSS, adding that her husband uses the stone.

Block Stone also have quarries on Stanton Moor (they sell the stone under the name of Peak Moor) near to Stancliffe\'s and are also seeking planning permission to secure reserves.

They are also hoping to get planning permission with a land swap arrangement, trading off the permission on an existing quarry that runs to 2042 for an extension to the less sensitive New Pilhough Quarry.

However, they have just had a planning application to open a new haul road rejected.

Jill Avent, managing director of Block Stone, says the company have an environmental policy of minimal disturbance and progressive restoration on all their quarries and are keen on the exchange of sensitive reserves for less sensitive reserves.

"It is negotiations on these matters, as well as trying to address the traffic issues on the hillside, that are taking time to resolve," she told NSS. "However, each step is a step closer to reaching an agreement that satisfies all parties."

Both Stancliffe and Block Stone are keen to emphasise that there are sufficient existing consented reserves to satisfy demand and that the applications for further planning permission is prudent management to make provision for future supplies.