Who is Lafarge?
Lafarge is a French multi-national who took over Redland Aggregates in 1997 in a hostile bid. They are the world’s largest cement manufacturer and second largest aggregates company, they operate in 75 countries with a workforce of 77,000 people and annual sales of 14.6 billion euros. Lafarge also owns Blue Circle Cement. What do the local community think about the superquarry plans? Original projections by Redland suggested 100 direct and 100 indirect jobs would be created by the quarry. Originally the local community was found to be 62% in favour, and the Western Isles Council voted to grant the planning permission. However, the Secretary of State for Scotland called in the application and a public local inquiry was set up in October 1994, which would become the longest running public inquiry in Scotland’s history. In May 1995, a referendum on Harris with a turnout of 83% found local residents were now 68% against the quarry, and the local inquiry found that only 33 direct and 10 indi
