THE Silverlake luxury holiday home complex at Crossways is asking permission to continue with groundworks for an extra seven months.

It could mean heavy lorries and diggers moving sand, gravel and earth until the end of July.

The original intention was that all the groundworks in the current phase of the project would have been finished by December 2018.

But the company behind the massive scheme, which was given planning permission in October 2014, say they have found that they need to move more material than anticipated.

The former Warmwell Quarry, where work stopped in May 2017, was once the county’s biggest, having been in operation since the 1930s. It extends over 227 hectares and, at its peak, produced more than half a million tons a year.

When it is finished Silverlake will have around 1,000 lodges, a hotel, and recreational and leisure facilities. The first phase has been completed with work on other phases expected to continue for more than 20 years.

County councillors are being asked next week to amend the original plan to allow groundworks to continue until the end of July and to also make amendments to the restoration contours and the size and shape of some of the lakes.

It is also being asked to formalise a Landscape and Ecological Management Plan (LEMP) and remove the redundant planning conditions now no longer relevant as a result of the end of mineral extraction.

There have been no objections to the changes from either Crossways parish council or the Knightsford parish council group.

The council’s regulatory panel, which meets on January 24th, is being recommended to approve the changes.

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