Leiths (Scotland) Ltd, part of the Aberdeen-based company Leiths Group, has received a planning approval for a new sand & gravel quarry at Craig Farm, located near Rhynie in Aberdeenshire. The application received full consent in March 2025, after submitting the application in August 2024.
Leiths Group currently operated three quarry sites within Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City: Blackhills Quarry, North Lasts Quarry (both producing hardstone) and Loch Hills Quary (producing sand & gravel). The company also operates various asphalt and concrete plants in the area.
The Craig Farm site is expected to extract 650,000 tonnes of sand & gravel over 22 years. The site will help to address the current mineral shortfall in the Aberdeenshire sand & gravel landbank, which currently is 10 years below the minimum target outlined in the Aberdeenshire Development Plan, adopted in 2023.
The site is expected to be worked at a rate of 30,000 tonne per year. Extraction will be carried out in six phases, with sand & gravel processing (washing and screening) onsite. The aggregates extracted will primarily be used for the production of asphalt and ready-mix concrete at Leiths’ own plants. The site will operate Monday to Friday, 07:00 to 18:00, and Saturdays, 07:00 to 13:00, with no operations on Sundays.
This is one of over 30 minerals and associated planning schemes identified last month by BDS as part of its regular monitoring of all 400+ planning authorities in Great Britain. Access to this information is available by annual subscription to the BDS Planning Portal. For more information on subscribing to the Portal or BDS research services and published reports, email: contact@bdsmarketing.co.uk or visit www.bdsmarketing.co.uk