Disastrous plans for a huge quarry on the outskirts of Coggeshall are expected to be submitted this month to Essex County Council. Blackwater Aggregates, the operators of Bradwell Quarry, will submit proposals to extract 13million tonnes of sand and gravel from a 400-acre site over a 20-year period. The quarry, when finished in the 2040s, would be vast and will be turned into a flood alleviation scheme complete with a huge dam near the historic Dick Nunn’s Bridge in the Blackwater River valley - a haven for wildlife, including otters and kingfishers. About 100 homes in Coggeshall, Kelvedon and Feering were affected by a 1-in-1,000-year flood in 2001 and the Environment Agency received a lot of criticism for not maintaining the River Blackwater properly.