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Our work: The Nature After Minerals Programme


Nature After Minerals

Minerals sites are often ideal for creating wildlife habitats such as wetlands, heath, grasslands and woods. 

The Nature After Minerals Programme is a partnership between Natural England and the RSPB, with support from the Mineral  Products Association (formerly the Quarry Products Association) and the British Aggregates Association.  The organisations are working with mineral planners and industry to help nature after minerals. Together, we will make substantial contributions to the habitats and species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan targets and provide richer places for people to enjoy.

Learn more about the Nature After Minerals Programme  

Working in Partnership

The RSPB and Natural England are working in partnership to achieve our joint objectives. Since the partnership was established in 2007, a Steering Group with representatives from both organisations provide governance and guide the strategic direction for the programme.

Representatives from the Mineral Products Association, Mineral Planning Authorities, the Environment Agency, as well as planners, geologists and land management advisors from both Natural England and RSPB, make up a Technical Advisory Group which offers technical guidance and input.

Our aims

The partnership has two primary aims:

1) To help deliver more priority BAP habitat on mineral sites, that is appropriate, high-quality and sustainable

2) To promote the huge benefits that high quality restoration and enhancement on mineral sites offer to people and wildlife

 


Please go to Resources to see copies of any Press Releases.


Happy New Year wishes to all our friends, colleagues and supporters!

As a new year begins with fresh hopes, aspirations and challenges for wildlife and the environment, everyone at Nature After Minerals wishes all our friends, colleagues and supporters a happy, successful and prosperous 2012.

Thank you for your interest and support in stepping up for nature in 2011 and we look forward to working and liaising with you in the year ahead.

Plans are in place to provide a new programme of training events and workshops from April 2012.  These will include a series of workshops on the design, creation and management of priority habitat on mineral sites.  We will be sure to keep you informed of this programme, as it is finalised.

Meanwhile, keep in touch and keep up the good work for nature!

Updated:  13 January 2012

... and birds of prey are doing well too ...

A recent study conducted by the RSPB, in conjunction with CEMEX, has highlighted how important mineral sites are for birds of prey.

A survey involving quarry managers at 70 CEMEX sites in the UK, placed buzzards and kestrels very close in the top two most-sighted species, followed by 15 other birds of prey, with breeding marsh harriers recorded for the first time. 

Appropriately-restored and sustainable quarries are able to provide a wide range of habitats such as woodland, reedbeds, grassland, heathland and ponds, all of which will help attract a wide variety of wildlife and birds of prey are no exception to the rule.

Further details of the survey are available in an RSPB/CEMEX press release of 15.12.11, to be found under our Resources pages, here.

Updated:  16 December 2011

Bitterns booming in UK quarries

Quarries are providing a safe haven for rare bitterns to nest and breed, helping them to make a resounding comeback in this country.

Making use of the bird's distinctive 'booming' call, conservationists have found that 2011 has proved to be a bumper year for this species, which was once extinct in the UK.

For the first time since 1911, over 100 birds have been found to be nesting in 26 sites throughout England, 15 of them at working or former quarries.  This represents a vast improvement on the overall count of just 11 birds recorded in 1996 and the minerals industry has had an important role to play in ensuring this success.

For further information, see our Press Release of 07.12.11 here.  See also details of the story covered in The Guardian on 7th December. 

Updated:  08 December 2011


And the winner is ...

CEMEX UK, in partnership with the RSPB, won first prize at the inaugural event of the new Natural England/Mineral Products Association Biodiversity Awards at the Royal Society, London on 19 October.  The award was in recognition of its work to create priority BAP lowland heathland habitat at its Rugeley Quarry in Staffordshire.  The runner-up was Hanson UK, for its work at Kings Dyke Nature Reserve at Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire. 

The awards were presented by Dr. Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, with additional, special awards for commitment to biodiversity amongst MPA’s smaller and medium-sized members, going to Brett Group, Marshalls, Sibelco and Smiths Bletchington. An award for individual commitment to biodiversity was granted, posthumously, to Brian Butterfield, for his outstanding commitment to habitat creation at Lafarge Aggregates’ Panshanger Quarry in Hertfordshire.

Dr. Darren Moorcroft, Head of Conservation Delivery at the RSPB and speaking at the event on behalf of NAM, commented: “Nature is intrinsically valuable and studies demonstrate it is fundamentally important to our wellbeing and our economy.  But we are losing it at an alarming rate.  The mineral products industry is uniquely positioned to step up and help turn this around.”

Nature After Minerals welcomes this new award which recognizes the importance of placing biodiversity at the centre of mineral site restoration and celebrates the increasingly good work being done by operators in this area, as they step up for nature.  Winners all round!

Updated:  04 November 2011

New Planning Adviser for Nature After Minerals

Nature After Minerals is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Planning Adviser.  This follows the departure of Charlotte Kinnear, who has now taken on the role of RSPB Conservation Officer for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Dr. Carolyn Jewell joins the Nature After Minerals team on Monday, 3rd October.  Carolyn comes from a background in ecological consultancy, specialising in Environmental Impact Assessments and various environmental issues in the planning system.  Her role continues to have an England-wide remit.  Engaging with and influencing the minerals planning process - in particular the Minerals Development Frameworks to achieve positive policy outcomes for wildlife - remains a priority for the role, as it does for the programme as a whole.

NAM welcomes Carolyn and we know she is looking forward to working with colleagues in planning and industry, over the coming months.

Updated:  03 October 2011

Cage saves rare birds in Somerset Quarry

Read here how the RSPB joined forces with local birdwatchers and Aggregate Industries on one of its sites in Somerset, to create an ingenious device to protect rare little ringed plovers and ensure their breeding success.  A marvellous success story for nature!

Updated: 09 September 2011

Joint Stakeholder Consultation Workshop (Wiltshire DPD)

In August 2011, Nature After Minerals was invited to jointly host a Stakeholder Consultation Workshop with Wiltshire and Swindon Borough Councils.  The aim of this workshop was to look at developing restoration options for the eight minerals sites proposed for inclusion in Wiltshire's draft Minerals Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD). See the Agenda.

Delegates were able to make recommendations for the sites based on a number of drivers and constraints:  BAP habitat creation; bird-strike risk; limited inert fill; protection of high grade agricultural soils; flood alleviation; green infrastructure and public access were all recognised as important influences on restoration and after-use in the county.  In helping facilitate the workshop, NAM helped identify recommendations for site after-use.  These included creating lowland mixed deciduous woodland to connect and help buffer woodland in the surrounding landscape; designing-in BAP priority habitats (such as arable field margins, hedgerows and in-field features); to agricultural restorations.  The workshop also considered how a complex of habitats, including wet woodland, could help overcome bird-strike issues in the Cotswold Water Park.

The event provided a good forum for discussion between a wide range of organisations including Natural England, CPRE, RAF Fairford, The Co-op, RSPB, The Woodland Trust, Cotswold Water Park Society, Wiltshire Council Planning Committee, Environment Agency, Aggregates Industries, Hanson and Moreton C Cullimore (Gravels) Ltd. In this way, everyone's views were recognised; playing an important part in working towards future aspirations.  In the short-term, however, the findings of this particular workshop will form part of the evidence base for the councils' draft DPD. Report on findings available here.

Updated: 26 August 2011


Virtues of positive partnership working extolled in Birds magazine

Birds is the quarterly magazine produced by the RSPB.  In addition to serving the RSPB's 1 million+ members, this award-winning publication has a total readership of 1.7 million (TDI), reaching a diverse range of audiences on many different levels.

In the recent Autumn 2011 issue, the magazine featured an article on Nature After Minerals and the positive working relationship between the minerals industry and the conservation sectors.  Entitled 'From rubble to reedbeds' (available to view here), attention was focused on the RSPB and Tarmac's efforts to transform Langford Quarry into a superb wetland habitat and new RSPB reserve (Langford Lowfields).  So far, the creation of wetland habitat on this site has attracted Cetti's warblers, bittern and breeding marsh harriers.

Other case studies (Aggregate Industries' Paxton Pits and Hanson's Middleton Lakes) were also held up as exemplary models of best practice in minerals sites restoration for enhanced biodiversity and local community involvement.  In essence, the article shone the light on what can be achieved through collaborative partnership working, for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Updated:  25 August 2011

Pond Creation on minerals sites

Pond Conservation has recently produced an updated version of its Pond Creation Toolkit, for anyone interested in creating ponds on minerals sites.  Comprehensive details and advice can be accessed here.  Users can also tap into Pond Conservation's BAP Species Map, which provides information on which pond-associated BAP species are in a particular area.

Updated: 25 August 2011

Down by the sea ...

On 7th July, Nature After Minerals - along with representatives from Dorset County Council, Natural England, RSPB and Imerys - was at hand to witness a quarry joining forces with the sea!

After months of planning and preparation, Imerys completed work on a channel and breach from Poole Harbour into Arne clay pit.  As a result, onlookers were able to watch as the beginning of the UK's newest saline lagoon took shape. Photos available here.

Nature After Minerals applauds such positive restoration work which, in time, could reap many excellent benefits for nature and biodiversity.  It is hoped that, eventually, the site will become home to nesting terns, as well as saline lagoon specialists such as the starlet anemone and lagoon seaslug.  Fingers crossed, it could also represent potential for new breeding firsts in Poole Harbour, with species such as spoonbill and avocet taking up residence.

Updated:  26 July 2011

New restoration paper from the Floodplain Meadows Partnership

The Floodplain Meadows Partnership, in conjunction with the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre, have recently produced a paper on restoring minerals sites to floodplain meadows.  Currently, there are very few examples of species-rich floodplain meadow being created on extraction sites.  However, Nature After Minerals and the Floodplain Meadows Partnership are interested in exploring the potential for more restorations of this kind.  So, if you know of a site that you think might be suitable, please do get in touch.  The restoration paper is the fourth case study down on the Floodplain Meadows Partnership's website page, to be found here.

Updated:  28 June 2011

Nature After Minerals - programme continues

We are delighted to confirm that Nature After Minerals - as a partnership between RSPB and Natural England, with support from the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and the British Aggregates Association (BAA) - is able to continue in its quest to promote and facilitate delivery of more priority UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) habitat on minerals sites, over the coming year.  This is desptie the loss of our main source of funding from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF), in March.  For more information, please read here.

Updated:  16 June 2011

 


At a joint RSPB/Mineral Products Association parliamentary reception at the House of Commons on 25th January 2011, guests gathered to hear Environment Minister Richard Benyon MP;  Martin Horwood MP (Cheltenham);  Nigel Jackson, Chief Executive, MPA;  Poul Christensen, Chair, Natural England and Dr. Mark Avery, Director of Conservation, RSPB, highlight and celebrate successful partnership working for the appropriate and high-quality restoration of mineral sites.

At a national and local level, government, industry and the conservation sector can work effectively together to help meet the needs of business, biodiversity and the local communities in which mineral operations take place.

Nature After Minerals is proud to be very much involved in such partnership working, looking to bring interested parties together, for the benefit of all.

Please go to the Resources pages to read the Press Release issued by RSPB at the time of the reception.

photographed (left to right):  Martin Horwood MP;  Nigel Jackson, MPA;  Mark Avery, RSPB;  Richard Benyon, Environment Minister;  Poul Christensen, Natural England 

Updated: January 2011


  DATE EVENT TITLE LOCATION EVENT OVERVIEW RESOURCES
1. 24.03.10 Midlands Regional Event Middleton Lakes, Staffs

to provide an update on the latest phase of the programme; introduce new NAM team members and provide a forum for discussion around the key issues of mineral site restoration.  Includes site visit

 Agenda
2. 19.04.10 Dorset Regional Event Dorchester/AI Warmwell Quarry as above Agenda
3. 28.07.10 Planning Training Event (Kent CC) Kent County Hall In-house training and discussion forum for planners and policy-makers
4. 05.08.10 Cross-boundary Facilitation Meeting (Hants CC/Dorset CC) Hampshire County Hall In-house, cross-boundary discussion forum for Hants CC & Dorset CC planners
5. 15.09.10 Reedbed Design, Creation & Management Workshop Langford Lowfields, Notts practical advice and training workshop on reedbed design, creation & management for mineral site restoration managers & landscape architects, including site visit Agenda
6. 11.11.10 Reedbed Design, Creation & Management Workshop Ouse Fen, Cambs as above
7. 15.11.10 Planning for Wildlife through Mineral Development Frameworks North Cave Wetlands, East Yorks Event to launch the NAM-commissioned report 'Review of Mineral Development Frameworks, in respect to Delivery of BAP Targets through MDF Policy', highlight the significant potential for Mineral Development Frameworks (MDFs) to deliver strategic creation of priority Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) habitats, for people and wildlife.  Including site visit

Agenda

MDF ReviewReport
8. 17.11.10 Wet Grassland & Waders Workshop Nosterfield Local Nature Reserve, North Yorks practical advice and training workshop on wet grassland design, creation and management for mineral site restoration managers and landscape architects (and other interested parties), including a site visit
9. 07.12.10 Cross-boundary Facilitation Meeting (Wilts/Glos) Cotswold Water Park, Glos Cross-boundary review of BAP vision within Cotswold Water Park and discussion forum for County Councils' minerals planners to consider support for BAP objectives through mineral restoration, wherever possible

Agenda

Outcomes
10. 02.03.11 Heathland Design, Creation & Management Workshop Cemex's Rugely Quarry, Staffs practical advice and training workshp on heathland design, creation & management for mineral site restoration managers, landscape architects and other parties, including site visit
11. 22.03.11 Heathland Design, Creation & Management Workshop Lafarge Eversley Quarry, North Hants as above
12. 24.03.11 Restoration Planning for Biodiversity Event Thorpe, Surrey an opportunity for a focused session for county and operator planners, providing intensive information around planning for biodiversity and emerging issues, such as localism and biodiversity mitigation responses.  Will also consider NAM's report on how MDFs can help to deliver strategic creation of priority BAP habitats for people and wildlife.
For QUERIES CONTACT: Debra Royal

NAM Events & Communications Officer:

debra.royal@rspb.org.uk


Nature After Minerals expands to the Midlands and beyond!
The Nature After Minerals programme aims to restore minerals quarries to priority habitat. It has been re-launched with the addition of four new team members, two of whom are based in the Midlands region: Paul French, Restoration Adviser for the Midlands based in Natural England’s Nottingham office, and Charlie Butt, Planning Adviser covering priority Planning Authorities across England, based mostly in Banbury, with a hot seat at the MPA’s HQ in London.
Charlie will be working to influence emerging minerals planning policy to facilitate fulfilment of regional Habitat Action Plan targets through visionary strategic planning documents. Paul French, will be working in partnership with operators, planners and landowners and inspiring them to create appropriate priority habitats on strategic sites across the Midlands region. Collectively, Paul and Charlie are aiming to make a positive contribution to the achievement of BAP targets within the region and beyond.

The programme recently hosted an exciting and successful event at Middleton Hall, Middleton Lakes, with over forty attendees, engaging talks, some lively debate and a tour of the soon-to-be finished RSPB Middleton Lakes reserve. If you missed it there will be a similar event on the 19 April held at Warmwell Quarry in Dorset with an equally interesting line-up of speakers, inspiring site tour and networking opportunities.

Last updated 26 March 2010

Nature After Minerals: A new team in play

We have a new team of Advisers in post, made possible by Natural England through Defra's Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF).

Focus on Planning Adviser - Charles Butt

The grant will run to the end of March 2011 and during that time our Planning Adviser will be conducting a national assessment of emerging MDFs to review their status, regional apportionment and potential for biodiversity delivery. The results will showcase how best to bring biodiversity fully into the equation and help target delivery at the local level. A series of seminars and workshops tailored for planners and elected members will be available for those Mineral Planning Authorities identified as having the greatest potential to contribute to the Government targets for habitat creation through the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). The project aims to share best practice and lessons learned and builds on the programme of past regional workshops, which many readers attended. 

Last updated 1 March 2010

www.afterminerals.com

The RTPI Planning Award 2008 recognised the usefulness of the tool which uses simple environmental and physical criteria such as soil type, geology and proximity to existing BAP habitats to inform strategic spatial planning.

A nationwide trawl for electronic data describing future allocations or preferred areas of extraction is underway. This will be used to update the award winning predictive web tool, which provides recommendations on the potential for mineral sites for biodiversity delivery.

The case studies, seminars and web tool are a resource offered to mineral planning authorities, landowners and local communities, conservation bodies and operators alike. To date we have gathered many examples of Mineral Planning Authorities and operators working together to develop restoration schemes that have multiple, sustainable long term benefits. We hope they inspire you to grab the opportunity to take a bold and visionary approach to site restoration that will benefit people and wildlife. And if you have examples of your own we would like to hear from you.

 To share your best practice in planning for biodiversity, to provide MPA data on preferred areas or allocations, or to put forward a biodiversity related issue to resolve, please contact us.

Updated:  February 2010


www.AfterMinerals.com wins top Award for innovation

The Royal Town Planners Institute (RTPI) have awarded the www.AfterMinerals.com website with a prestigious RTPI Planning Award in the 2008 ‘e-government’ category. The website was recognised for the innovative use of information technology to inform the planning process, a tool developed to facilitate nature conservation benefit on minerals sites.

 The Nature After Minerals Programme, is looking to update the web tool over the coming year to include future mineral extraction sites or ‘preferred areas’. 

RTPI win (Feb 2009) Left to right: RTPI President Martin Willey, Mark Avery Director of Conservation RSPB and host Radio Four’s Fi Glover.
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The Judges awarded a glowing report:

 “It was the sheer usefulness of this project which impressed us. We were also impressed by the partnership approach to the project.

We think this is a highly practical tool… developed in a comprehensive, imaginative and professional way and… a project which might have won an award in more than one of our categories.”

This work could not have been achieved without the support and input from planners and mineral planning authorities and we would like to extend our thanks to those who have offered feedback and attended workshops.

Honoured Guests Left to right (back): Ken Hobden, Mineral Products Association (formerly QPA); Mark Walton, Environment Planning Protection Network; David Henshilwood, Natural England; Carl Simms, RSPB; Jerry McLaughlin, Mineral Products Association (formerly QPA); Darren Moorcroft, RSPB; Simon Elson, Surrey County Council; (front): Kareen Holliday, Nature After Minerals Programme; Mark Avery, RSPB. Guests included David Hill, Natural England, Peter Huxtable, British Aggregates Association and Minerals Planning Journal
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We are delighted that the project has been recognised in this way and will continue to look for opportunities to work together through a partnership approach.
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We will pool expertise and information to help this essential industry contribute strategically to Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) targets, as well as the suite of wider benefits to society such as recreation, amenity, education, soil protection and geodiversity.
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Nature After Minerals builds upon a strong foundation of work with the minerals industry. The first programme of work was through the predecessor initiative 'Minerals Restoration Potential Project'.

In January 2005, the RSPB started work on a national project aiming to understand the potential contribution that mineral sites in England could make to UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) targets for habitat creation.   The After Minerals website was one of the project's main outputs, a resource which the Nature After Minerals Programme continues to expand upon and revitalise.  

The potential contribution that habitat creation on mineral sites could make to UK BAP targets was vast.  However, the Minerals Restoration Potential (MRP) project also highlighted that only a small proportion of this potential was actually set to be realised. 

Learn more about the MRP Project


For information about Geographical Information Systems data relevant to Nature After Minerals, see the GIS data page


For links to other website that may be of interest, please see the links page


If you have any questions about the Nature After Minerals programme or to provide feedback about this site, please contact us

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