Core Strategy Baseline Analysis Study - Bradford Metropolitan ...

Many of the sites are approaching the exhaustion of their permitted reserves.
During a meeting of the Regional Aggregates Working Party the sand and gravel industry
expressed doubts about the viability of exploiting sand and gravel resources within Bradford
in terms of finding sites with sufficient accessible resources to make them commercially
viable. The British Geological Society (BGS) has been commissioned by the Yorkshire and
Humber Assembly (YHA) to undertake a reality checking exercise which will involve the sand
and gravel industry in identifying constraints to commercial sand and gravel extraction within
West Yorkshire, including Bradford.
11.1.3 Building, Roofing and Flag Stone
The government commissioned a report on the planning issues related to the supply of
natural stone building materials which was published in March 2004, Planning for the
Supply of Natural Building and Roofing Stone in England and Wales. Research was
carried out on building and roofing stone supply through survey work, analysis of published
statistics and case studies. Demand was discussed but not quantified, due to the variable
and unpredictability of building stone markets.
The supply data analysed indicated that there was a generally slowly rising trend in building
and roofing stone production in England and Wales between the period from 1992 to 2001.
However the proportion of building and roofing stone demand being met by imports
increased dramatically over this period, with imports being 14% greater than domestic
production in 1992 but 200% greater by 2001.
The survey found that the majority of quarries are relatively small scale (under 3ha) with
relatively low output (up to 2,000m 3 ) per annum and are often only worked intermittently.
However the majority of production is concentrated within a small number of relatively large
operations.
The report highlights the significance of carboniferous sandstones in terms of building and
roofing stone production, which account for both the largest number of individual quarries
and the greatest level of output. The importance of Yorkshire, in terms of the supply of
carboniferous sandstones, commonly known as York Stone, is particularly noted.
Imports are stated to be the perceived biggest threat to the UK building stone industry. In
particular sandstone from India and China is noted to be competing directly with materials
such as York Stone paving at less than half the price (ODPM/ Symonds group, 2004).
The need for natural stone building materials within the district is integrally linked to housing,
built heritage and design policy objectives. The most significant element of building, roofing
and flag stone demand is for new build projects, including new housing developments and
public realm projects. The RSS sets out benchmark figures for housing provision within the
Bradford District. Depending upon the location of the housing and the design policies
adopted by the Council, a certain proportion of the building materials required to construct
these new houses will comprise natural sandstone products such as sandstone walling
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