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Priority habitats for the minerals sector

Habitat enhancement is associated particularly with the restoration phase of mineral working, but there is a wider range of possibilities that exist during the operational phase. For example:

• habitats can be protected by selecting the areas of working;
• temporary habitats can be identified and protected as they emerge;
• habitats on unworked land within companies’ landholdings can be enhanced in association with restored land and by taking into account biodiversity interest on adjacent land not owned by the company.

In advance of selection for working, the protection of habitats may be carried out at a strategic level within companies, or through the mineral planning process. Sites may also be protected by legislation, or acceptance of the social and environmental costs outweighing the economic benefit. Regardless, there may be some habitats that are so special as to be avoided in selecting future working targets.

Click here for a guide to Natural Areas of special relevance to the minerals industries. For more information on priority habitats and species, click here.

Habitats and their species do not exist in isolation. They exist in a pattern connected by networks of linear features and intermediate ‘stepping stones’, or green corridors, along which wildlife – from mammals to seeds – can travel. The UK BAP refers to the importance of enhancing these features within the overall patter, with a specific recommendation on hedgerows (see ’10 BAP steps’). Likewise, scope for the enhancement of green corridors and of networks linking habitats, and for the creation of ecological ‘stepping stones’ is specifically recognised in PPG 9 Nature Conservation.

Mineral companies often control substantial areas of land and thus are well placed to contribute to biodiversity by maintaining and enhancing these corridors – by phasing workings, for instance, to ensure habitats do not become isolated, or by restoring worked land to remedy pre-existing problems of habitat fragmentation.

Action on these matters may be feasible at relatively low cost, and the opportunities are likely to be greatest in areas where series of workings are undertaken in the same area – such as along river valleys. Potential opportunities and benefits arising from co-operation between minerals operators working in the same area should be explored.