MPA Restoration Guarantee Fund relaunched

Industry relaunches essential pledge to ensure completion of site restoration should an operator become insolvent

THE MPA’s Restoration Guarantee Fund (MPARGF) was relaunched at the Association’s 6th Members’ General Assembly yesterday. This fund is a valuable industry pledge which ensures that restoration of a site can still be paid for and completed, if an operator becomes financially insolvent. The MPARGF is endorsed by government through the National Planning Policy Framework.

Lynda Chase-Gardener, newly appointed chairman of the MPARGF, said: ‘I am delighted to be able to relaunch the MPA Restoration Guarantee Fund scheme. The MPARGF gives communities, landowners and planning authorities the confidence that even when an operator goes bankrupt, quarrying will not leave a legacy that they will be left to clean up. It is an essential pledge that we are very pleased that we can make.

‘MPA members are proud of their record on restoration. They know that unless worked out sites are not only left safe and tidy, but also carefully designed to maximize their value to local communities, landowners and the wider environment, the industry can never claim to be truly sustainable.’

First introduced by the Sand and Gravel Association (SAGA) in 1975, the fund, which covers England, Scotland and Wales, has been strengthened by successive mergers to become what it is today. It now has more than 70 members, covering sand and gravel, crushed rock aggregates, industrial sands, lime and dimension stone.

In the unlikely event that an MPA member is unable to meet its financial obligations for restoration due to insolvency, the fund will provide the necessary financial support to make sure that the work is done. Cement operations, which have their own arrangements, are specifically excluded.

A new MPARGF leaflet was launched at the 6th MPA Members’ General Assembly, a copy of which can be downloaded here.