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NSC Home Page > EUAS Contents > Industry profile
INDUSTRY
Industry profile
The fact file sets out the raw statistics of the industry, but these do not reflect certain aspects particularly well.
Quarrying as such is largely concentrated in rural areas, but the main markets are of course the large urban conurbations, cities and towns as well as single large construction projects such as the Channel Tunnel or a motorway. Transport systems hauling materials from quarry to consumer are a key part of the system and a major element in the delivered cost (a 25 mile journey can double the ex-quarry price).
Well over half of the 900 quarries in England are run by half a dozen large companies; all except one (a family concern) are plcs and all operate on an international scale (some with 10,000 or more employees worldwide), particularly in Europe and USA. In addition there are over 100 smaller companies (SMEs), some with a regional presence, many others are small family concerns operating a single unit, some with a few as 10 workers or occasionally even less, but which may still be highly efficient.
Individual operations in England are distributed from Great Yarmouth to Llynclys on the Welsh Borders and from the Penryn in west Cornwall to Milfield inland from Berwick upon Tweed.
Rock quarrying is almost entirely confined to an area, north west of a line from Swanage in Dorset to Kings Lynn, Norfolk and is concentrated in areas where the more resistant rocks outcrop, i.e. usually in hilly or mountainous areas. The same areas (for exactly the same geological reasons) often have highly valued landscapes. The main areas of rock quarrying are in the southern Pennines, Leicestershire and Mendip.
Although southern and eastern England is the main zone of sand and gravel extraction, these aggregates are won in every (pre-unitary) county of England. The two main concentrations of workings are in the Thames and Trent Valleys. Significant quantities of sand and gravel are also dredged off the South and East Coasts of England, and in the Bristol Channel and Liverpool Bay.
Only a few areas (e.g. parts of east Wiltshire, The Weald, Lake District, south Somerset and north west Northumberland) are in fact more than 20 miles away from an active aggregates quarry.
More detailed information on geology and resources is published by the British Geological Survey.
Whereas most extraction is in country areas, a few quarries are in urban areas, e.g. Rowley Regis, West Midlands, and most rail depots receiving rock from other areas and wharves for landing marine sand and gravel, or rock (from other parts of the British Isles or Norway), are in towns and cities. There are an estimated 1650 depots, wharves, asphalt and concrete plants in England, most of which are in or near urban areas.
Many people are unaware of quarries as planning conditions are often so stringent that environmental measures have effectively in hidden them from view or have minimised the land area worked and left unrestored at any particular stage. When quarrying is completed, restoration to agriculture, forestry, nature conservation or leisure uses, or pressure from other forms of development (housing/industrial/retail) may be so effective that it is difficult to recognise areas formerly quarried (this itself presents its own learning opportunities).
Individual operations vary from small units producing a few thousand tonnes of building sand to massive multimillion-pound complexes producing say 5 million tonnes annually for a wide range of end uses and covering perhaps the square kilometre. By far the largest producing region of aggregates minerals is the East Midlands with an output of over 50Mt (leader in limestone - 25Mt and igneous rock = 14Mt; second in sand/gravel = 10Mt). The South East is the largest consumer of all aggregates (34Mt) and the East of England is the largest producer of sand and gravel (15Mt).