PLANNING permission for major changes to the quarrying operation near Upton-upon-Severn will be decided by Worcestershire County Council next week.

Two planning applications have been submitted for the Ripple and Ryall House Farm Quarries and will be heard on Monday.

RMC Aggregates Ltd has requested permission to keep the processing plant at Ryall and also build a wharf at the quarry in order to process the material brought up from the Ripple Quarry further up the river.

It also wants to do away with the proposed processing plant at Ripple Quarry and amend the restoration scheme to leave more water areas.

The only way of moving material excavated from the Ripple site is to move it by barge on the river because the surrounding road network is unsuitable.

The change to the restoration scheme has been brought about because there will no longer be any silt arising from use of the processing plant.

The silt would have been used to refill the workings to restore the site to agriculture. Instead it will be turned into an open water and wetland habitat.