Brickworth Quarry,
Wiltshire

A proposed major extension to an existing sand quarry on a 22 hectare coniferous woodland site, just north of the New Forest National Park, near Whiteparish in Wiltshire.

The proposed extension scheme constitutes the extraction of 1.34 million tonnes of soft sand over a nine year period, the progressive backfilling of the resultant extraction voids with imported inert materials and the restoration of the site to broadleaf woodland and agricultural land at original (or near original) ground levels. Planning permission for the development was granted in April 2017.

Corylus were one of the principal consultants for the project, undertaking a comprehensive landscape and visual impact assessment as part of an EIA and formulating a detailed and complex working and restoration scheme within a very sensitive site.

Although the proposed extraction area was predominantly coniferous plantation prior to development, much of the site was designated as ancient woodland and contained a number of protected species, including Great Crested Newts, Dormice and Reptiles. Hence the phased working and restoration scheme involved the careful stripping and preservation of ancient woodland soils and the planned translocation of protected species. The final restoration scheme will re-establish native broadleaf woodland over the majority of the site with the provision of extended and enhanced habitats for protected species and the management of a diversity of woodland habitats in to the future.

In recognition of the carefully designed scheme of working and restoration at Brickworth Quarry and the planned objectives of the final restoration scheme and management plan, the site operators (Raymond Brown Minerals & Recycling) were rewarded as winners of the ‘Biodiversity - Planned Restoration’ category of the Mineral Products Association (MPA) Quarries & Nature Awards in 2017.

Input:
• Undertaking a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment as part of a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment.
• Design of a detailed working and restoration scheme involving the phased stripping and replacement of ancient woodland soils and the progressive extraction and restoration of the site to minimise landscape and ecological impacts.
• Formulating a detailed restoration and planting scheme to provide landscape and ecological mitigation and enhancement.
• Preparation of a detailed Landscape and Ecological Management Plan (LEMP) for the long term management of the site, in association with the project’s ecological consultants (Ward Associates).
• Ongoing project management and assistance to the client in respect of project implementation.