A PLANNING application has been submitted to extend a Dartmoor quarry as it is running out of stone.

Yennadon Quarry, in Iron Mine Lane, at Dousland, will run out of workable stone by 2015, said its operator Yennadon Stone Ltd.

In its planning application to Dartmoor National Park Authority, the company said it did not wish to change the constraints imposed by the current planning conditions, including production rates and vehicle movements.

And to reduce the impact of the extension, Yennadon Quarry Ltd proposes to in-fill depleted parts of the quarry.

The company employs 19 full-time and two part-time workers.

The quarry is on Yennadon Down, which is common land owned by the Walkhampton Trust and administered by Lord Roborough's Maristow Estate.

The quarry has been run under lease to the Maristow Estate for around 80 years, and in its current form since 1990, when planning permission was granted for 35 years.

Stone for building purposes has been extracted from Yennadon Quarry for more than 100 years.

It is estimated that extractable resources will be exhausted by 2015 at current rates of extraction — some ten years before the current planning permission expires.

The consultation period for the planning application ends on January 24.

The matter will be considered by Burrator Parish Council's planning committee on January 16 at 7.30pm at Meavy Primary?School. The meeting is open to the public.

The ultimate decision will lay with Dartmoor National Park Authority.