A TEAM of consultants have been employed by the county council to search for new areas to quarry in the next 20 years.

North Yorkshire County Council’s Countryside Service team will employ consultants Capita Symonds Ltd and Oxford Archaeology to undertake surveys of North Yorkshire to find locations where they can develop quarrying for materials such as clay, silica sand, limestone and sandstone.

The ‘Managing Landscape Change’ project, as it is called, will look at both where surface area quarry sites (meaning digging up to 20 metres underground) can be located and also the impact on the environment.

Rob Smith, team leader for Plans and Technical Services said: "The consultants will identify potential areas for mineral resources across North Yorkshire.

"Where there are areas for development coupled with environmental concerns the consultants will develop ideas to work around the problem.

"This isn’t the same kind of deep mining such as for potash or coal, but rather looking for materials such as sand and gravel for building uses, or for aggregate minerals found in crushed limestone and sandstone."

The project will be completed in February 2012 and the findings will shape the council’s Minerals Core Strategy, a plan for mining in the county up to 2030.

Surface mining is common within the county - clay is quarried in Easingwold, silica sand is taken from an area near Malton and Harrogate and sand and gravel quarries are found in areas near Ripon and Catterick.