The Quarry’s Threat to the River Teign
The River Teign is a living system, not a spoil channel. Allowing a quarry to dominate its banks would gamble with floods, pollution, and the extinction of local wildlife.
The River Teign is one of Devon’s most valued waterways
Home to salmon, trout, otters, kingfishers and countless aquatic invertebrates. Its health depends on clean water, intact riverbanks, and floodplain woodland that filters and slows rainfall.
Sibelco’s proposed quarry expansion would flank the Teign with deep clay pits for a mile of its course. This is no minor scar: it would place heavy industry on both sides of a living river, with unprecedented risks to water quality, flooding, and wildlife.
How the Quarry Damages Water Quality
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Sediment and Pollution Runoff: Excavation exposes clays and sulfides that can wash into the river during heavy rain, clouding the water, choking fish gills, and degrading spawning grounds.
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Flooding and Overflow: In winter 2024, Sibelco’s existing pit flooded and overflowed, destroying the public footpath between Teigngrace and Newton Abbot. An enlarged quarry, with more riverside woodland stripped away, would only worsen flood risk and pollution hazards.
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Loss of Natural Defences: Woodland and soil act as natural sponges, absorbing rainfall and filtering runoff. Removing them increases peak flows, erosion, and the chance of toxic discharges into the Teign.
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Wildlife Impacts: Otters (a protected species) are highly sensitive to disturbance and pollution. Increased turbidity also threatens salmonid fish, aquatic invertebrates, and bird life along the corridor.
Policy Levers We Can Use
National and local planning rules provide clear grounds to object:
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NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework): Requires developments to avoid causing unacceptable pollution to water bodies and to improve water quality wherever possible.
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Environment Act 2021: Places binding duties on government to improve water quality and restore habitats – approving a quarry that risks degrading the Teign directly conflicts with this law.
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Teignbridge Local Plan (Policies EN2A, EN8–EN12): Demands protection of landscapes, woodlands, and biodiversity. The quarry risks breaching every one of these principles.
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Devon Minerals Plan Policy M6: Requires no adverse effects on European wildlife sites and demands protection of green infrastructure corridors across the Bovey Basin.
These are hard legal and planning “hoops” Sibelco must jump through. At present, their Environmental Statement is highly unlikely to meet the standard, leaving them exposed to strong objections.
Campaign Wins Within Reach
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Flood Risk as a Stopper: The Winter 2024 flood incident proves that pits on the Teign floodplain are unsafe. If the company cannot prove the river will remain unharmed, planning law requires refusal.
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Environment Agency Leverage: The EA is a statutory consultee with the power to object on hydrological grounds. If we keep pressure on them, their objection alone could block the application.
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Biodiversity Net Gain Requirement (110%): By law, any new quarry must deliver a net gain in biodiversity. Mature broadleaf woodland scores so highly that replacing it plus an extra 10% is virtually impossible. This is one of the campaign’s strongest levers.
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Tree Preservation Orders: Applying TPOs on key riverside woodland can halt premature clearance and raise the bar for removal.
The Path Ahead
The River Teign is a living system, not a spoil channel. Allowing a quarry to dominate its banks would gamble with floods, pollution, and the extinction of local wildlife.
By pressing the legal levers, highlighting past failures, and forcing the company through every planning hoop, we can protect this river. Every refusal, delay, or added condition is a campaign win – and ultimately, we can compel the council to conclude that the risks to the Teign are simply too great.
