WORK to dig out 2.5m tons of sand and gravel from a controversial quarry site will start next year, a landowner has said.

County councillors voted eight to two to approve the Coleman’s Farm site in Rivenhall at a planning meeting last month.

Opponents of the scheme have cited safety concerns about the junction of Little Braxted Road onto the A12 sliproad and the safety of the access road itself.

In response, applicants Brice Aggregates made several changes to the scheme before it went through.

These included an agreement to cut back hedges, maintain sightlines for the duration of the 20-year scheme, install road signs and create an area for lorries to make a U-turn at the site entrance.

The company also agreed to move the quarry 50 metres away from the River Blackwater and create a cycleway through a field on the other side of Little Braxted Lane.

Simon Brice, of Brice Aggregrates, said: “These things take a long time to go through. The planning application went in in July last year. From when it goes in to when it’s heard you answer the questions and queries.

“People have had concerns, we listened to them and you try to see what you can do to help the situation.

“Minerals are required for all sorts of reasons- schools, hospitals, roads- at the end of the day they have to be dug somewhere.

“It was a preferred site in Essex County Council’s minerals plan and there were only two people who opposed it at the meeting.”

Mr Brice said work would begin on the site next year.