A meeting with Shane and Lara

Lucy Hawker, Dunsmore Living Landscape Scheme Manager, was delighted to have the chance to meet Shane Sparg and Lara Rechlin when they visited Glebe Farm Quarry recently. They went for a walk around the site to discuss our project which has been entered into the Heidelberg Materials Quarry Life Award.

A key link site, the quarry sits between the wildlife-rich areas of Bubbenhall Wood and Meadows, Ryton Pools Country Park and the Weston and Waverly Woods. Over the years various valuable habitats have formed over the site and are now at risk due to the final restoration plan, agreed by the local council in 1990, which focuses on a return to intensive farming. This year, members of Team Dunsmore, the NCAP team and the Agriculture Advisory Team will be undertaking work to produce a report which will form the basis of a proposal for changes to the final plan which will improve connectivity and increase biodiversity and carbon capture for many years to come.

Many quarry sites have decades old restoration plans which were agreed when the focus was on farming without either climate or biodiversity thought of as priority considerations. We want this project to create a model for other quarries within the Heidelberg Materials family (and others) to identify and propose changes to restoration plans which allow for an increase in biodiversity and carbon capture. We believe that proposals backed by evidence obtained by the local Wildlife Trust will have greater influence with local authorities and that this is an excellent example of how the Wildlife Trusts can work in partnership with the aggregate industry to address the climate emergency and make more space for nature.

A big thank you to Jops Hill for arranging the meeting.