Aggregates such as sand and gravel are vital inputs in construction, agriculture, and other industries. The extraction from roughly 400 quarries keeps Denmark more or less self-sufficient in aggregates.
Extracting the aggregates from the ground gives rise to noise, dust, and heavy traffic, which can make a quarry a bothersome neighbour for local households.
Financial compensation to the households neighbouring a quarry is one way to alleviate the conflicts that can arise between households and extractors. Funds for such a compensation scheme could be raised through a levy on aggregates.
Against this backdrop, Danish Regions asked Copenhagen Economics to map the regulatory framework in neighbouring countries, including neighbour-compensation schemes.
We find that:
We find that none of the countries considered had national schemes for neighbour-compensation in place.
Stakeholders indicate that the current regulation largely works as intended. There are no issues with recurring complaints from neighbours to quarries. This may in part be due to low population density, particularly in Sweden and Norway.
The study is commissioned by The Danish Regions.
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