Natural regeneration with limited intervention

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Objective

To mitigate potential impacts of the development of a quarry.

Context

Quarrying has taken place since the early 1800s and is still active. In 2007 a 25 year permit to landfill bypass dust from the cement-making process at Southam Quarry was granted. This covers a 9.9 hectares area which, lies between active workings.

Solutions

A number of activities will be undertaken to mitigate potential impacts of the development:

Filling the void will proceed in a phased manner.
On completion of each phase, the dust will be covered by material with low permeability prior to landscape restoration.
For groundwater conditions, a drainage system will be implemented to collect lechate into a lagoon from which it will be removed by tanker for disposal at a licensed waste treatment site.
The restored landform will be re-capped with a calcareous substrate to facilitate the colonisation of plants which will provide an important resource for valued inspect species. Reed from the quarry will be transplanted to the lake, and new ponds will be created and receive translocated Great Crested Newts from the reed bed under licence from Defra.

Results

The landform will be a gently sloping ridge and the loss of habitats during site preparation will in the longer term be balanced by those in the restored condition. To facilitate the establishment of suitably bio-diverse habitats and encourage invertebrae populations, the site will be allowed to regenerate naturally with only limited intervention. Seed will be harvested from species rich semi-improved grassland within the quarry to encourage indigenous vegetation growth.