The Hamble School protest Cemex quarry plans: as it happened

Teachers and students from The Hamble School lined Satchell Lane yesterday morning, holding placards with messages such as ‘Don't ruin our education with a quarry’ and ‘Beep if you are against the quarry'.

They were trying to catch the attention of Hampshire County Council's regulatory committee, who visited the site ahead of their decision on the Cemex plans on May 15.

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It would see an area of 60.4 hectares – equivalent to 84 football pitches – extract 1.7 million tons of sand and gravel, approximately 250,000 tons annually.

A recent consultation saw strong opposition, with more than 5,000 responses in total.

Chairman of Governors, Hannah Craggs said: “This quarry could take up to 15 years to create – that is a whole generation of students that will be affected.

“The students have been brilliant at getting their voices heard and demonstrating how they feel about the proposal of this quarry.”

Hamble School Chair of Governors, Hannah Craggs (Image: NQ)The school's main concerns are noise and air pollution from the construction and the impact of lorries on an already strained road network during rush hours.

Year 11 student, Molly Slattery, said: “We just did our mock exams for our GCSEs. They were difficult enough without the impact tankers coming up and down the road outside our school will have.

“That would have a massive impact on our grades and potentially limit what we and future students are able to achieve.”

Year 11 students, Molly Slattery, Oscar Hill and Natasha Obiajunwa (Image: NQ)

Student Oscar Hill, 16, added: “Hamble has already been flagged as an area of high pollution and all the dust and added HGV movement would just make the pollution level unbearable.

“Experts have chimed in to say how much of an impact this would have on the residents of Hamble.“

It concerns me when thinking about the future.”

Hamble students recently joined their MP Paul Holmes in Downing Street to try to put a stop to the application.

Year 11 pupil, Natasha Obiajunwa, said: “We are only a small village and if these issues are not brought up and our voices are not heard we could end up falling under the radar.

“If we don’t protest, we won’t get this application stopped.”

While the committee took a different route to the site in the end, the students' actions captured the imagination of other residents, who joined in with signs and chants like 'save our school'.

Passing drivers sounded their horns and waved their fists out of their windows to show their support.

Hamble resident of six years, Tony Peter, said: “You wouldn’t build a school next to a quarry, so why would you build a quarry next to a school?”