Cemex and Collard have asked to work the Eversley quarry until 31 December 2031. The council's notice does not say so. Comments close 4 September.

The sand and gravel quarry at Eversley has asked to keep working for another five and a half years. Cemex UK and Collard Group want permission to run Bramshill Quarry until 31 December 2031. Their permission expired on 30 June 2026.

Residents have until Friday 4 September 2026 to comment. Hampshire County Council is the minerals planning authority and will decide.

You would not learn the 2031 date from the county’s own paperwork. The public notice advertising the application, and the description on the council’s planning register, both describe an extension of time “until 30 June 2026”. That is the date the current permission already ran out on. The new date appears in the applicants’ planning statement, which sets out the actual request.

What is being applied for

There are three linked applications, all submitted in late June 2026 by Continuplan on behalf of Cemex UK and Collard Group.

  • HCC/2026/0441 (council reference 26/01186/HCC) covers the quarry itself: extraction, processing, and removal of plant, machinery and buildings
  • HCC/2026/0442 (26/01188/HCC) covers the conveyor bridge that carries material over the A30
  • HCC/2026/0444 (26/01191/HCC) covers the concrete batching plant

Only the first is still open for comment. The register shows the consultation on the other two has closed.

All three are made under section 73A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the route used when development has already taken place. The county’s notice states this. In practice it means the quarry is asking to regularise time limits that ran out seven weeks before the consultation closes.

Why the operators say they need until 2031

The planning statement is direct about it. Work is behind programme because it took longer than expected to extract and process the mineral, which the applicants attribute largely to market conditions.

The bigger constraint is drying time. The site’s silt lagoons have to dry out before material can be placed on top of them and the land restored. The statement estimates that will take until December 2031.

Most of the digging is finished. The applicants say:

  • around 40,000 tonnes of reserves are left in phase 12
  • roughly 65,000 tonnes remain north of the A30, including under the plant site
  • a further 55,000 tonnes sits in a stockpile north of the A30
  • that is about 160,000 tonnes in total
  • up to 48,000 tonnes more may be brought in from Chandler’s Farm during 2026 and 2027 for final processing

Extraction rates would fall. Phases 9 to 12 ran at up to 120,000 tonnes a year. The statement puts the final stage at about 85,000 tonnes a year, and says clearing the remaining reserves and the stockpile will take roughly two years, plus another six months if the Chandler’s Farm material is processed here.

The remaining working area is just under 25 hectares: about 6 hectares of silt ponds, 4.5 hectares of plant site, 2 hectares of surge stockpile north of the A30, and 12 hectares of works to the south.

Bramshill Quarry: the end date has moved three times since 2002 A timeline showing that extraction at Bramshill Quarry began under a permission granted in November 2002. In May 2016 the end date was set at 31 December 2020. In February 2023 it was extended to 30 June 2026. The applications now under consultation would extend it to 31 December 2031. The closing date at Bramshill Quarry has moved twice. This would be the third time. Each bar shows the deadline for ceasing extraction and removing plant, as set by the permission granted that year. Nov 2002 extraction begins May 2016 deadline set at 31 Dec 2020 Feb 2023 deadline moved to 30 Jun 2026 Now applied for deadline moved to 31 Dec 2031 +5 years 6 months Source: planning statement by Continuplan for Cemex UK and Collard Group, June 2026, and the planning history it sets out. Graphic by Fleet & Hook News
Extraction at Bramshill began under a 2002 permission. The deadline has been extended twice since.

Where the quarry is, and what is next to it

The site covers about 120 hectares north and south of the A30, west of the A327 and either side of Blackbushes Road, immediately west of Blackbushe Airport. It sits on the edge of the Bramshill Plateau, within the commercial forestry plantation known as Bramshill Forest.

Extraction started under a permission granted on 15 November 2002, though the adjacent land has been quarried since at least the 1970s or 1980s. The site has been worked in twelve phases and restored as it goes. Phases 1 to 7 were finished before 2013. Phases 8 and 9 are restored, and phases 10b and 11 are substantially complete.

Several protected sites sit close by. Bramshill SSSI adjoins the site to the north and east. Castle Bottom to Yateley and Hawley Commons SSSI lies east of the A327. Both, along with Hazeley Heath SSSI, form part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, designated for Dartford warbler, nightjar and woodlark. Castle Bottom National Nature Reserve is 400 metres east of the northernmost part of the site.

Because the original scheme was Schedule 1 development under the environmental impact assessment rules, the application carries an Environmental Statement. The applicants have submitted a 2026 addendum updating the 2013 assessment and its 2020 update, covering ecology and transport.

The conveyor bridge, and a future A30 closure

The conveyor bridge over the A30 was permitted in 2008 as an alternative to tunnelling under the road. The applicants say there is no operational need for it once the last 40,000 tonnes in phase 12 are extracted, and that discussions with the highway authority about removing it have already begun.

They also want the bridge’s removal deadline extended to match the quarry’s, as a contingency. The reason matters for drivers: taking the bridge down will require closing the A30 for safety reasons, and the statement says obtaining the consents for that is likely to take time. There is no date for it.

A separate access tunnel under the A30 will also be filled in. That is not required by the current permission, but the applicants say it has been agreed with the landowner, the Elvetham Estate.

What the consultees have said

Every response published on the register so far raises no objection.

  • Hart District Council, consulted as the neighbouring planning authority, replied on 21 July with no objection. Its officer wrote that the extension is unlikely to have material impacts beyond those already accepted, “but would extend the period of potential disturbance by just over five years”.
  • The Ministry of Defence, through the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, said on 10 August the proposals would not affect any defence site. Its consultation reference names RAF Odiham.
  • Historic England is not offering advice and suggested the county consult its own conservation and archaeology advisers.
  • Active Travel England made no comment.
  • The assistant county archaeologist raised no archaeological issues.

No parish council response and no public representations had been published on the register when we checked on 18 August 2026.

What it means for you

  • If you want to object or support, you have until 4 September 2026. Comments go through the “comment on this application” link on the county’s page for HCC/2026/0441, or by post to Development Management, Universal Services, The Castle, Winchester, SO23 8UD.
  • You must give a name and address. The county will not accept anonymous or confidential representations, and your name, address and comments will be published.
  • Working hours would not change. They stay at 07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday and 08:00 to 13:00 on Saturday, with no work on Sundays or public holidays.
  • This is not an extension of the quarry’s area. No new land is proposed. What is being asked for is more time on land already permitted.
  • If you use Welsh Drive, that is Bridleway 11 and the only public right of way inside the site. Its eastern end doubles as the access road to the processing plant.
  • If the paperwork confuses you, you are not alone. The notice and the register describe a date that has passed. The 2031 date is in the planning statement, which is in the documents list on the same page.

The case officer is Molly Snow at Hampshire County Council, on 0370 779 5961.

Sources

  • Hampshire County Council public notice, Bramshill Quarry for the three application references, the section 73A status, the Environmental Statement, and the 4 September comment deadline.
  • Planning register entry for HCC/2026/0441 for the dates received and valid, the consultation window, the applicant, agent and case officer, and the document list. The register also holds HCC/2026/0442 and HCC/2026/0444, both showing their consultation closed.
  • Planning statement by Continuplan for Cemex UK and Collard Group, June 2026, published on the register, for the 31 December 2031 date, the tonnages, the extraction rates, the site area and description, the planning history, the silt lagoon drying time, the conveyor bridge and the A30 closure.
  • Hart District Council consultation response of 21 July 2026, and the responses from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Historic England, Active Travel England and the assistant county archaeologist, all published on the register.

Hart’s own planning decisions are on Fleet planning. Current closures across the district are on Fleet roadworks and travel.