By Spring 2021, Loxwood Clay Pits Limited (Registration No. 10729828) will submit a planning application to West Sussex County Council for permission to use their land for the following:

• Excavation of minerals (principally clay shale) from an area of woodland and scrub; and
• The development of a construction materials recycling facility (CMRF) to provide local recycling facilities and the utilisation of some of the recycled materials for the restoration of the clay pit.

The development site is located on the old Pallinghurst Estate in an area of existing woodland / scrub, located approximately 1.5km to the east / north east of the village of Loxwood, and immediately west of the A281 Horsham trunk road. Access to the claypit could be gained by a dedicated site access road approximately 1.2km long, which already runs entirely through land owned by Loxwood Clay Pits (LCP) and begins in the layby at the junction of Loxwood Road. This track runs north-west through Beggars Copse, before following the undesignated forestry route to the site.

In the wider context, the site is located within an area of West Sussex, on the northern edge of its border with Surrey, 12km to the west of Horsham, 17km south of Guildford and approximately 30km from the towns of Chichester and Worthing on the south coast.

The site is underlain by the Weald Clay Formation, understood to be a principle clay resource for brick making, and it is well located for supplying several relatively local brickworks. Historically, it is apparent that LCP’s land has been the site of small-scale brick making activities for many years through the 1800’s and early 1900’s, and the presence of a larger operation at Rudgwick is a good indicator of the suitability of the clay resource at the site.

Geologically, the site has been noted by the British Geological Survey (BGS) England and Wales (Sheet No. 301 - Haslemere, 1:50,000 dated 1981) as being underlain by the Weald Clay Formation.

Whilst the majority of construction wastes are likely to be locally sourced, the central location of the site to the major conurbations in West Sussex listed above is also seen as being a key benefit in the development of the construction materials recovery plant.

The development targets the extraction of approximately 400k tonnes of clay from the site to be used in brick making and other construction/industrial applications. The annual inputs/outputs from the site are planned to be:

• Circa 12,500 tonnes clay / siltstone output (approximately 9,600m3)
• Circa 25,000 tonnes construction materials throughput for treatment
  • 12,500 tonnes used for restoration
  • 12,500 tonnes recycled (output)

Following the clay extraction, the site will be sequentially restored with suitably treated imported materials which will be sourced from the on-site CMRF. It is proposed that the site will eventually be restored back to deciduous forestry plantation at levels similar to those of the existing pre-development landform, in addition to the formation of a small fishing lake for the benefit of the local community.

The extraction phasing is likely to be sequential in nature, meaning that the void spaces formed by the clay extraction will be filled as the clay is extracted.

The overall extraction period is anticipated to be around 31 years, but the site will be worked and restored progressively such that the area of disturbed or un-restored land is minimised.

The final phases of restoration (including removal of the CMRF) will be undertaken in the 12-24 months following the completion of extraction. The total period of development will therefore be approximately 33 years.