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07 Jul 2021

Fears that new Net gain Metric will deliver worse outcomes for nature from quarries

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) believes that new requirements for biodiversity net gain, and application of the ‘Metric’, could lead to worse outcomes for nature than those delivered through the current minerals planning system. The minerals industry is uniquely placed to deliver positive outcomes for nature and has been doing so for over 50 years. 

Today (7th July) the latest Defra ‘Biodiversity Metric 3.0’ has been published, the formula to be used in the vast majority of planning applications to demonstrate delivery of a ‘biodiversity net gain’ of at least 10%.

The MPA has long called for greater recognition that mineral extraction delivers net gain as a matter of course, and a Metric isn’t needed.  If the sector is to have a Metric, this needs to recognise the unique characteristics and opportunities presented by minerals extraction and the restoration of quarries.  However, these calls have not been heeded and a one-size-fits-all approach is being introduced that might encourage less, not more, habitat to be delivered.

The net gain requirement is one of the measures in the Environment Bill that is currently progressing through Parliament.  Once enacted, biodiversity net gain will become a legal requirement for new development.  This has been introduced to address the serious damage to wildlife resulting from other types of development, particularly housing.

Mineral extraction is different.  It is a temporary activity which occurs over many years.  Once the mineral has been extracted, sites are progressively restored, creating new habitats.  Creation of some habitats - for example lakes, reedbeds, rock faces, lowland heathland – is demonstrably easier to achieve on minerals sites. However, the new Metric could encourage delivery of habitats deemed easier to create in a shorter-term, rather than what is best for wildlife.

To date, MPA members have created over 80 square kilometres of UK Priority habitats, with a further 110 square kilometres committed to in restoration plans, footprints that are equivalent to the cities of Derby and Liverpool respectively. The MPA’s ‘National Nature Park’ includes 80 such sites.

Nigel Jackson, MPA Chief Executive said: “Net gain is not a new concept for the minerals industry. It has a long and proven track record over 50 years of delivering high quality biodiversity gain on its land, especially through restoration of quarries.  This has been achieved without either a legal requirement or a Metric but rather by  minerals operators working with planning authorities, communities and conservation bodies to agree and deliver restoration schemes that self-evidently deliver for nature.

“Rather than recognising the significant contribution the mineral products sector has made delivering nature recovery, this industry is being saddled with a Metric designed to offset the impacts of new housing development. The one size fits all approach that is being proposed will create a delivery framework that may encourage less, not more, habitat to be delivered. This represents a perverse environmental outcome at a time when Government is continually stressing the importance of nature recovery. We would ask that Defra and Natural England think again.
 
“We hope that mineral planning authorities will be pragmatic and focus on outcomes rather than numbers and processes designed for and more suited to housing.”

Ends.

For further details of the MPA’s Quarries & Nature initiatives see https://mineralproducts.org/Campaigns/Quarries-and-Nature.aspx 

About the Mineral Products Association:
The Mineral Products Association (MPA) is the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, dimension stone, lime, mortar and silica sand industries. With the merger of British Precast, and affiliation of the British Association of Reinforcement (BAR), Eurobitume, MPA Northern Ireland, MPA Scotland and the British Calcium Carbonate Federation, it has a growing membership of 520 companies and is the sectoral voice for mineral products. MPA membership is made up of the vast majority of independent SME quarrying companies throughout the UK, as well as the 9 major international and global companies. It covers 100% of UK cement and lime production, 90% of GB aggregates production, 95% of asphalt and over 70% of ready-mixed concrete and precast concrete production. In 2018, the industry supplied £16 billion worth of materials and services to the Economy. It is also the largest supplier to the construction industry, which had annual output valued at £172 billion in 2018. Industry production represents the largest materials flow in the UK economy and is also one of the largest manufacturing sectors. www.mineralproducts.org.

For media enquiries, contact Elizabeth Clements at Elizabeth.Clements@mineralproducts.org; tel: 07775 894 285.

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