Quarry tax boost to help protect aqueduct
Volunteers working to preserve a 200 year old aqueduct near Frome have received a £500 grant to carry out a detailed study on how best to conserve the feature.
Enthusiasts want to preserve the Murtry aqueduct, at Hapsford near Frome, for future generations. They have spent the last few years clearing trees and undergrowth from the structure and now need to carry out a full structural survey in order to develop a management plan for its future conservation.
Money to carry out the study has come from the Somerset Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, which ensures that some of the money raised by quarrying in Somerset is ploughed back into local environmental and community projects.
The aqueduct, part of which is on land owned by Hanson Aggregates, dates back to 1796 and was built to carry a branch-line of the Dorset and Somerset Canal from Frome through Coleford to the Nettlebridge valley.
It was intended to carry coal from the Mendip collieries to Frome and then into Dorset and Wiltshire. However the project ran out of money and the main line of the canal was never built. The branch line was nearly completed but never used for commercial traffic.
Derrick Hunt, chairman of the Dorset and Somerset Canal Study Group said he was delighted that the conservation project would be able to move forward, with help from the sustainability fund. He said: "This is a very important part of the industrial heritage of this part of Somerset which we are trying to preserve. We are very grateful to Hanson and the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund for assisting us with this project."
Hanson's land manager John Dutson added: " Quarries in Somerset are putting a lot of money into the Sustainability Fund and this is a good example of how money raised from local industry is going to benefit local projects.
Notes to editors
Funding for this project has come from the Somerset Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. Last year the government introduced a levy of £1.60 on every tonne of aggregate sold from UK quarries. Some of the money raised from the levy ‚ around £28 million a year ‚ is channelled into a UK Sustainability Fund to support environmental and community projects.
The bulk of this fund is administered by English Nature, English Heritage and the Countryside Agency. But as one of the three major quarrying areas in the country, Somerset County Council receives a proportion to direct to projects which enhance the quality of the local environment and contribute to social progress.