Biodiversity and Geodiversity

 

 

 

Operational Requirements

Once a planning permission and/or other development consent has been obtained to proceed with quarrying operations, the operator has to comply with a range of site-specific requirements, most of which will be expressed in the form of conditions attached to planning permissions and environmental permits or licences pertaining to the site in question, and or in 'Section 106' legal agreements (also known as Planning Obligations). As with the pre-operational requirements outlined above, these will be very specific to the site in question, but some generic observations can still be made.

With respect to biodiversity and geodiversity, the key points to consider (whether or not they are identified in conditions or obligations) will be those relating to:

• implementation of the agreed design, including phasing arrangements, restoration and aftercare;


• implementation of agreed operational monitoring schemes for habitats, species and the water environment, including timely submission of monitoring results to the appropriate authorities and liaison with other data holders;


• responding as appropriate to monitoring results which suggest the need for action, including implementation of agreed or additional mitigation measures (as necessary);


• protection of existing habitats and species (especially but not only those which are formally protected) in accordance with the agreed design;


• enhancement of biodiversity through landscaping, planting and progressive or final restoration, optimising the potential for the schemes to contribute to national and local Biodiversity Action Plan targets and/or to the development or improvement of 'wildlife corridors' to promote increased continuity between habitats;


• protection and enhancement of the water environment through good control of dewatering operations and of water quality and rate of discharge from the site;


• protection or enhancement of geodiversity, including ongoing liaison with local interest groups and researchers, responding where possible to important and / or unexpected discoveries, allowing these to be investigated and 'rescued' where possible or retained as conservation faces at the margins of the excavation.

In each case, the various guides to good practice referred to earlier should be consulted for further details of the issues which need to be considered and the options available for dealing with them. Specialist advice on particular issues and often on individual sites can be obtained through consultation and ongoing liaison with Natural England, The Environment Agency, local authority ecologists, RSPB, Buglife, local Wildlife Trusts and local RIGS groups.

 

Continued with Post-operation

TOP

Return to Pre-operation