creating environmental improvements through biodiversity

3.6 BIODIVERSITY AND MINERAL SITES – NON-ALSF RESEARCH IN
ENGLAND
Four reports were identified, all from English Nature, that provide useful background to this review through
non-ALSF research into biodiversity on minerals sites.
The earliest of these was an exercise in collation of case studies, of where the minerals extraction industry
had adopted working practices or schemes that were deliberately beneficial to nature conservation
(Tyldesley, 1995). Although no analysis was presented of the results, this was an early attempt to gather
best practice information from throughout the industry. A later production by the Minerals and Nature
Conservation Forum (MNCF - which includes English Nature, the Quarry Products Association and the Silica
and Moulding Sands Association), provides background information on BAP targets and biodiversity for the
minerals industry, identifies basic good practice, and provides pointers to relevant sources of information
(EN, QPA and SAMSA, 1999).
A study was commissioned by QPA and SAMSA to follow on from the 1999 guidelines, to develop a
methodology that would allow the minerals industry to assess the contribution its holdings are making
to biodiversity. Outputs of this were: a simple process and mechanism to audit the existing or potential
biodiversity of a company’s landholdings, and: some management guidelines for illustrative purposes
(Horton, 2003). The resulting guidelines are a very useful resource for minerals industry staff and should
help significantly towards raising ecological knowledge, and hopefully enthusiasm, and towards standardising
approaches across the industry. However they are a starting point and do not negate the need for expert
advice in identifying and dealing with particular habitats. The guidelines were to be trialled and refined in
cooperation with the minerals industry.
Sustainable Aggregates Creating Environmental Improvements through Biodiversity
A study was also commissioned by English Nature on behalf of MNCF to assess the mineral industry’s
contribution to and impacts on biodiversity (SLR Consulting, 2004). This involved GIS analysis of land cover,
conservation designations, BAP priority habitat inventories and species data in relation to aggregate sites.
The results were combined with a review of a number of restoration plans for consented workings and
synthesised into a ‘balance sheet’ showing gains and losses to biodiversity over time, within two study areas.
Results showed that both gains and losses to biodiversity have occurred, while in future biodiversity gains
will occur due to aggregate site restoration. The report suggests that future losses to biodiversity can be
minimised by:
• Full consideration of biodiversity in the planning process
• Retention and appropriate management of remaining semi-natural habitats within aggregate sites, and
• Sensitive, conservation-led restoration of existing aggregate sites
The method was seen as a starting point for the long-term monitoring of the biodiversity contribution made
by the aggregates industry. The report states that ‘monitoring biodiversity will be a key factor in determining
the long-term sustainability of the industry’. The main points made by the report are very much in keeping
with the recommendations made in this review.
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