Creating A Natural Asset

Planning and partnership key to restoration success at Tarmac’s Sutton and Lound gravel pits

As part of a long and successful partnership with the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT), Tarmac are delivering a major quarry restoration and aftercare management plan for their 600ha Sutton and Lound gravel pits, a large part of which was certified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by English Nature in 2002.

Tarmac’s Bellmoor and Lound estate is situated in the valley of the river Idle, north of Retford, Nottinghamshire, and has been worked for high-quality alluvial sands and gravels since the mid-1940s. The estate has been in Tarmac’s ownership since 1981.

Historically, Bellmoor Quarry, to the south of the estate, produced 350,000 tonnes of sand and gravel per annum. Extraction ceased in 2005 and the site is now home to the Central regional office of Tarmac. Lound Quarry, to the north of Bellmoor, typically produced a larger output of approximately 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel per annum. Since opening in 1940, it is estimated that 30 million tonnes of sand and gravel have been extracted and sold from the quarries to serve local construction markets. The site is still operational, but work is winding down and Tarmac will cease extraction from Lound, and thus the Bellmoor/Lound estate, later this year. Tarmac’s restoration and aftercare plans are on schedule and the company anticipates that the site will be fully restored by the end of 2012.

Back to nature

Originally required to be restored to agricultural land, the average depth of sand and gravel extracted at the Bellmoor and Lound quarries was 2–3m. In order to fill the resulting voids to original levels and allow agricultural restoration, pulverized fuel ash (PFA) from nearby Cottam power station was pumped as slurry and allowed to settle prior to soil replacement. In the early 1990s Powergen ceased PFA infilling, which meant that full agricultural restoration could not take place and large areas were left as water-filled voids. Over time this land regenerated naturally and became a haven for wildlife, and in April 2002 some 316ha of Bellmoor and Lound quarries were designated as SSSI, largely due to their assemblages of breeding, wintering and passage birds.

Working with local partners to manage the restoration in line with local and environmental needs has been key to its success, as Neil Beards, estates manager with Tarmac, explained: ‘We worked very closely with NWT to prepare detailed restoration proposals for the land and water within the SSSI. We then put these to Natural England and Nottinghamshire County Council, and in 2004 we began a five-year programme of works.

‘We frequently engage with NWT and all of our restoration works within the SSSI are approved and monitored by them at regular meetings and with on-site supervisions to agree when and how the final landforms are achieved.

‘We recognized that it was important to engage with local partners and bodies early on in the restoration planning process, to ensure that, with careful management, both during and after extraction, the impact of quarrying on the surrounding area is minimized, and that once decommissioned, the quarry site becomes a habitat for interesting and diverse wildlife and an asset to the local community.’

As part of the aftercare of the Lound/Bellmoor estate, Tarmac have agreed to donate all of their land within the SSSI to NWT to ensure that the area is protected and nurtured for the future.

The Idle Valley Rural Learning Centre

The idea of a joint NWT/North Nottinghamshire College education centre and visitor facility was developed following a presentation to the Bassetlaw Local Strategic Partnership, when the local tertiary college identified that its desire to support a rural population with training close to the centre of population at Retford could form the basis of a project adjacent to the extensive SSSI. Very quickly the synergies of the college using the site during academic term time and the community and visitors using the site at weekends and in the holidays became apparent. The building was funded via the European Regional Development Fund and the Alliance SSP, and Tarmac transferred the land to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust in 2007.

The education centre combines an outstanding teaching environment with leading renewable technologies and offers a unique model of a training centre operating adjacent to, and essentially within, a SSSI for the study of land-management and other skills. The centre is also used by large numbers of community groups from local schools and youth groups, through mental health support networks, including the Boundary Centre run by Nottinghamshire County Council, Bassetlaw District Council and MIND, who visit regularly, to more mature people with a ‘healthy walks’ programme. This is in addition to more specialist natural history groups who are keen to see what the site has to offer.

Successes

NWT has now completed the second year of its Heritage Lottery Funded (HLF) project and the partnership with Tarmac has seen a new viewing screen installed, around 4km of fencing erected to increase the grazing of the site, and approximately 4ha of scrub cleared to improve the openness of the site for wetland birds.

NWT has also achieved a further 2ha of scrub clearance, brought nine islands under management, created a 2.5km path around the Idle Valley Rural Learning Centre using recycled aggregate from Tarmac, brought 8ha of grassland under management and extended grazing to a further 30ha of land. Finally, 200m of hedgerow have been laid, a new viewing platform installed and a 150m willow arch created.

In addition, a new project to propagate NWT’s own reeds seems to be proving successful, with reed seeds collected in 2009 appearing to germinate successfully. In conjunction with this, the site’s polytunnel has been decked out with a boardwalk and four bays. Construction is now under way for outside bays to help with the propagation process. This work has proved very successful with groups with mental health issues, in particular the Worksop Boundary Community Support Services.

In 2004 and 2008 the quarry came first in its category in the British Trust for Ornithology –British Business Bird Challenge. Historically, more than 170 different bird species have been sighted at Lound, counted with the generous help of numerous volunteers from the Lound Bird Club. Wetland species populate the area and coastal birds that are generally rare inland also visit the site. Shelduck, little ringed plover, ringed plover and oystercatcher are among the many species observed on site.

While all birds are protected during the breeding season, Schedule One birds are under constant protection throughout the year and some of these can be seen at Lound, including kingfisher, barn owl, black-necked grebe (a rare bird nationally) and garganey duck. Farmland birds, whose numbers have reduced nationally over the years, have also been spotted at Lound. These include the grey partridge, skylark, linnet, tree sparrow, yellowhammer and even the nightingale, a bird which had been extinct in Nottinghamshire until two or three years ago.

Looking to the future

‘We will continue to work in partnership with NWT until the aftercare period is over and both Natural England and Nottinghamshire County Council confirm that the restoration and aftercare of the SSSI are complete to their satisfaction,’ said Tarmac’s Neil Beards. ‘At this point, we look forward to donating the remaining SSSI land to NWT.’

Charles Langtree, head of estate management at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, is pleased with the restoration’s progress: ‘Tarmac’s Sutton and Lound gravel pits site is enabling us to achieve many of our ambitions for the north of Nottinghamshire. It is a very special site worthy of the SSSI status and the success it has in bird competitions,’ he said.

‘It is also important to consider how the other priorities, such as recreation and commercial interests of land owners, have been resolved in the peripheral parts of the complex. I am certainly keen to see the site develop and to continue to work with Tarmac to maximize the potential of this wonderful ex-gravel pit complex,’ he concluded.

Beyond the current limits of the SSSI, modifications to the existing approved restoration plan for the final extraction area at Lound Quarry will see some 20ha of void being restored to a wetland scrape landform.

Historically, prior to intensive farming and river management, this area adjacent to the river Idle would have been seasonally flooded with marshy shallow ponds and hollows. This would have provided a diverse habitat for amphibians, insects and ground-nesting and wading birds, which in modern times has been lost.

Tarmac’s proposed modifications will hopefully recreate a natural pre-agricultural landscape.

It is anticipated that this site will become a magnet for migrating and nesting birds, which will further improve what is a regionally important area for wildlife.