Project: Common and Warren Farm

 

Client: Greenfield Associates 

The team at Pleydell Smithyman Limited have assisted in securing planning permission for a proposed mineral development at Common and Warren Farm in Solihull.

The site is approximately 53.1ha and comprises of arable farmland with semi-improved neutral and marshy grassland, improved grassland, hedgerows, scattered trees, scrub and a brook. The proposals will see the extraction of mineral from the site in a number of phases with bunds being created to store soils during the mineral extraction. Three lagoons will be created as well as a processing plant, to assist with the functioning of the quarry.

The restoration of the site will involve all voids being backfilled and restored to 1m above the local water table. Final restoration of the site is dependent upon the proposed HS2 and is likely to include a new train station that will cover a large area of the site.

The ecologists at Pleydell Smithyman Limited undertook a number of surveys including an extended Phase 1 habitat, reptile, breeding bird, bat activity and bat roost. An ecological impact assessment was prepared following the completion of these surveys to detail any impacts resulting from the proposal. A landscape and visual impact assessment and tree survey were also prepared by our landscape architects.

The team at Pleydell Smithyman Limited provided a number of mitigation measures to ensure that the proposals would not involve any negative impacts on any sensitive receptors such as habitats, protected species, sensitive viewpoints and/or veteran/important trees.

Planning permission was recently granted by Solihull County Council, which will allow the mineral extraction to commence in the near future.