There's a huge amount of development in Gloucestershire right now. From major work on the A417 'missing link' road network to new housing estates in Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, as well as a new designer outlet shopping destination, there's a lot going on.
And, to make these ambitious plans for the future possible, raw materials from the ground are required — in significant quantities. Up until now, most of the sand and gravel for new developments has been making its way into Gloucestershire from Wiltshire.
However, from 2025, there'll be a major new supplier with the launch of Bow Farm on the edge of Tewkesbury being transformed into a huge quarry to extract the minerals needed for these significant developments.
It's not been a simple journey for the owners to get to this point, with planning challenges stretching out the proposal period to five years. But since the green light was granted in February 2024, it's all systems go for Cullimore Group, with the 160 acre quarry near Twyning set to open early in 2025.
And it'll be providing much of the raw materials needed to build the foundations of homes, hospitals, schools, roads and businesses across Gloucestershire.
Managing director, Moreton Cullimore said: 'If you want bricks and concrete, you need quality minerals from quarries like mine.
'Our new quarry is a useful resource on the doorstep of Gloucestershire's development. With all of the work going on, it makes sense to have stone coming from the county instead of being imported from Wiltshire.
'Our new quarry will reduce the number of the trucks coming up the A417, reducing diesel emissions, and lowering transportation costs.'
The quarry is expected to produce 1.5million tonnes of sand and gravel over nine years before the land is transformed onto a wetland sanctuary for wildlife in 2034.
For Moreton, who was born in Gloucester and grew up in Stroud, the move to open the quarry doesn't just help literally build the foundations of Gloucestershire's future, it also secures the future of his own business.
Cullimore Group has interests in concrete, haulage and quarrying as well as a very successful fabrication site at junction 13 of the M5 with welders making gates and fixing truck bodies.
Moreton said: 'Nine years of extractable mineral work gives a reassuring future to all elements of the business. We have owned all of our sites and we are custodians of the land.
'We work with our neighbours and have pride in what we do. We're a Gloucestershire business, that owns a piece of Gloucestershire that we will work on, and the land will go back to agricultural use with the original soil returned to the ground.'
Soil from the fields, that were previously used to farm wheat and barley, will be stored and used as sound suppression bunds during the quarrying work.
Moreton added: 'Everything looks more beautiful once we have finished working on it. With the wetland pools, dragonflies and bugs will start to increase and the new hedgerows will help the habitat, with more trees having an atmospheric knock on effect.'
His family firm, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2027, employs just under 100 staff and with the roll out of the new quarry up to 20 new roles will be created.
