BNG opportunities arise as GEDG buys Barnsley quarry
Green Earth Developments Group has acquired the 71-acre Stairfoot Quarry complex from client Heidelberg Materials.
The aim of the purchase is to develop the nature site in partnership with the local community, Barnsley Council and other interested parties including local schools, providing a wide range of stakeholders with access to nature in their locality – in a move that should attract interest from developers seeking biodiversity offsetting.
GEDG said that the former quarries at Stairfoot have a rich industrial history dating back to the 19th century. The complex comprises a series of former clay pits used for the manufacture of bricks, a number of which have been previously infilled.
The remaining mineral void at Yew Tree Quarry requires pumping and restoring to enable the creation of the proposed nature reserve.
GEDG said that the site, which is crossed by several formal and informal pathways, can attract anti-social behaviour including fires, motorbikes and unauthorised swimming in the void.
A planning application is expected this year. GEDG will consult in the local area over autumn ahead of any plans being submitted to Barnsley Council.
Under the stewardship of GEDG, the site would be managed as a local environmental asset in perpetuity.
Lucinda Lay, head of natural capital and ESG at GEDG, said: “The site is in the ‘National Character Area’ Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfield and will therefore serve as a biodiversity offsetting site for developments in Sheffield, Rotherham, Nottingham, Derby, Barnsley, Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford.
“This is a regionally significant asset acquisition for the Green Earth Developments Group’s growing portfolio.’
Currently, the site comprises a mosaic of largely unmanaged habitats including developed land, grassland, woodland, scrub, hedgerows, trees and waterbodies. Valuable habitats will be retained and enhanced with sustainable management practices. There are opportunities to create new habitats on site to encourage invertebrates and amphibians.
Middlemarch, the UK’s largest wildlife trust consultancy, conducted the initial baseline ecological and biodiversity net gain surveys. These surveys assessed the current habitats and their condition and identified biodiversity uplift options to support the proposed nature reserve plans and national nature recovery targets.
The firm has now been commissioned to produce a suite of reports that will help determine if the site is viable as both a nature reserve and a habitat bank.
