Tree-planting milestone for Banks Mining
Stannington schoolchildren help plant one millionth tree at company’s Delhi surface mine
CHILDREN from a Northumberland first school have been helping Banks Mining reach a major milestone in the restoration and landscaping of their mining sites.
Nine members of Stannington First School’s ‘Green Team’, which includes children from Reception to Year Four, as well as 13 teachers, went on site at the company’s former Delhi surface mine to plant the one millionth tree that Banks have planted as part of the landscaping work they carry out at their operational and restored surface mine sites.
The children were joined at the event by Viscount Ridley, on whose Blagdon Estate the Delhi site is located, and worked with members of Banks’ landscape team on a range of different tasks during their visit.
The tree planting at the Delhi site is part of the recreation of a 200-year-old parkland landscape on the Blagdon Estate, which was originally designed in the style of famed Northumberland-born landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, but which was removed by previous mining activity on the Estate in the 1950s.
Further tree and hedgerow planting has already been completed at Banks’ nearby Shotton and Brenkley Lane surface mines as part of the company’s ‘restoration first’ approach, where work is undertaken to return land that is no longer required on operational sites, rather than waiting until the end of operations. It was this approach which led to the creation of the nearby Northumberlandia landform, in which Banks and Blagdon Estate invested around £3 million.
Richard Hutchinson, landscape manager at Banks, said: ‘Restoration design and work differs according to the needs of each individual site, but includes tree and hedge planting, reinstatement and improvement of agricultural fields, creation and enhancement of ecological habitats and enhanced footpath and bridleway networks, and is part of a long-term aftercare plan that we design and deliver for each operational site.
‘The Stannington First School pupils who were on site for this special event will be the young people who will see the restored landscapes around them maturing over the decades to come, and we’re grateful to them and to Viscount Ridley for helping us reach this fantastic milestone.’
