We have created four site-based Biodiversity Action Plans so far for Breedon as part of their Sustainability Strategy. We check the approved planning consent and ecological surveys to date to create targets which are right for the site and the location, and work with the quarry managers to make sure the targets set are practical and achievable.
As part of our Landscape & Visual Impact Assessment work we carefully select the appropriate visualisation techniques. These can be anything from a simple marked-up photograph or a sight-line section, to a more complex photomontage such as this one for Dry Rigg Quarry in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This shows what people walking on the quarry’s perimeter footpath can expect to see once the quarry is restored to its final wetland habitats.
We act as Expert Witness for our clients, both for developers and more recently on behalf of Shropshire Council. Our expert knowledge has been required at five Public Inquiries and one Written Representations in the last 4 years, all of which helped to secure a successful outcome for Shropshire.
At Holme Hall Quarry near Doncaster we help Breedon keep on top of their restoration, providing muckshift volumes, muckshift contract plans, planting plans, specifications, bills of quantities, advice on landscape management and increasing biodiversity and future development plans.
ESP Ltd regularly advises Local Planning Authorities on the landscape and visual effects of proposed developments. One of our regular clients, Shropshire Council, receives occasional ‘Paragraph 80’ applications for dwellings of exceptional quality in open countryside. We were pleased to advise the Council on the first of these in 2021, an outstanding proposal in the upper Rea Valley close to the Shropshire Hills AONB, in securing planning permission on the basis of significantly enhancing its immediate setting whilst also being sensitive to the defining characteristics of the local area. (image courtesy of Johnson Design Partnership Ltd)
We are the retained Landscape Consultants for Shropshire Council, providing advice and consultee comments on any planning applications which may have a landscape and visual impact within the County. Projects can range from residential developments, pig or poultry units, solar farms to wind turbines.
Providing ongoing award-winning restoration design for Smiths Bletchington at Gill Mill Quarry near Witney. Working closely with the RSPB in the detailed implementation. Smiths Bletchington won the National Biodiversity Award in 2015 for its Planned Restoration which was designed by ESP. Photo credit to Kev Daws (Grey Arrows Drone Club). Click on the YouTube video below to learn more about the scheme.