A LARGE sand and gravel quarry in North Yorkshire is set to get a ten-year extension, after a warning it could close in a year without it.

Hanson Quarry Products Europe Limited wants to expand Wykeham Quarry, at Long Causeway Road, Hutton Buscel, near Scarborough, by 57 hectares.

Gordon Somerville, Scarborough Council's chief planning officer, said the land will be worked in seven phases, and, when finished, a boating lake and wildfowl over-wintering lake, which has become a popular watersports park, will be expanded.

If permission is granted by North Yorkshire County Council, it will extend the quarry's life by ten years.

Mr Somerville said an environmental impact assessment had been carried out, and that the company felt the impact on the surrounding area would be minimal.

He said that if permission was refused, the site would have to close.

Mr Somerville's report to the planning committee, which meets today, said: "The presence of large reserves on this site would make it illogical and unsustainable to develop other greenfield sites, or to bring in sand and gravel from other areas."