Report No: C434 Date: May 2021 PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION of land at EDLINGTON COMMUNITY WOODLAND, EDLINGTON, DONCASTER, SOUTH YORKSHIRE Prepared for Edlington Town Council Prepared by G&M Consulting Ltd, The Chestnuts, Brackenhill Road, Haxey, Doncaster DN9 2LR REPORT C434 REPORT FINAL NUMBER: STATUS: REPORT Preliminary TYPE: Investigation REPORT May 2021 DATE: SITE: Land at Edlington Community Woodland, Edlington, Doncaster, South Yorkshire PREPARED Edlington Town FOR: Council PREPARED A Swinbourne BSc. Senior Engineering BY: (Hons), MIEnvSc, Geologist FGS, ACIEH. REVIEWED G Swinbourne Principal Engineering BSc. (Hons) MSc. Geologist BY: DIC, FGS This report is written for the sole use of Edlington Town Council or their representatives. No other third party may rely on or reproduce the contents of this report without the written approval of G&M. If any unauthorised third party comes into possession of this report, they rely upon it entirely at their own risk and the authors do not owe them any of Duty of Care or Skill. Report No C434 – Edlington Community Woodland Page 1 of 15 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION. ................................................................................................................................ 2 2.0 SITE DESCRIPTION. .......................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Site Location. .......................................................................................................................................... 3 3.0 SITE HISTORY. .................................................................................................................................... 4 4.0 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING. ......................................................................................................... 5 4.1 Published Geology ................................................................................................................................. 5 4.2 GroundSure GeoInsight ........................................................................................................................ 5 4.3 Hydrology ............................................................................................................................................... 6 4.4 Hydrogeology ......................................................................................................................................... 6 4.5 Mining and Quarrying .......................................................................................................................... 6 4.6 Radon ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 4.7 Additional Environmental Information .............................................................................................. 7 4.8 Unexploded Ordnance ........................................................................................................................... 9 5.0 PRELIMINARY CONCEPTUAL SITE MODEL. .......................................................................... 10 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 5.2 Assessment of Potential Sources of Contamination ......................................................................................... 11 5.3 Potential Receptors ............................................................................................................................................. 11 5.4 Potential Pathways ............................................................................................................................................. 11 6.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. ........................................................................... 13 APPENDIX A – DRAWINGS C434/1 Site Location Plan 24974/01 Proposed Development Layout C434/2 Edlington Community Woodland Schematic Plan APPENDIX B – DMBC PUBLIC OPEN SPACE ASSESSMENT APPENDIX C – GROUNDSURE REPORT Prepared for: Edlington Town Council May 2021 Report No C434 – Edlington Community Woodland Page 2 of 15 PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION of land at EDLINGTON COMMUNITY WOODLAND, EDLINGTON, DONCASTER, SOUTH YORKSHIRE 1.0 INTRODUCTION. G&M Consulting Ltd (G&M) was commissioned by Edlington Town Council (ETC), to undertake a preliminary investigation (desk study) of land at Edlington Community Woodland, Edlington, Doncaster, South Yorkshire. It is understood that an assessment of land contamination was recommended by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC) as part of the Public Open Space Assessment, prepared in September 2016, undertaken for the woodland. For completeness and to present context, a copy of the above assessment is presented in Appendix B of this report. This preliminary investigation report has been prepared in support of Section 7 of the assessment. The development layout is shown on Drawing No 24974/01, dated 6th September 2016, prepared by DMBC, a copy of which is presented in Appendix A of this report. The aims of this investigation are as follows; • To determine the land use history of the site from an inspection of available historical Ordnance Survey (OS) plans; • To determine the environmental setting of the site, including the details of the geology, hydrogeology and hydrology; • To determine whether the site is underlain by shallow coal workings; • To determine whether the site had previously been used for any purpose that may have given rise to significant ground contamination; • Develop a Preliminary Conceptual Site Model; and, • To provide recommendations for any further works, if required. As part of the desk study, information was sourced from GroundSure Limited (GroundSure), British Geological Survey (BGS), The Coal Authority (CA), The Environment Agency (EA), Zeitca UXO and Building Research Establishment (BRE). A site inspection (walk-over survey) was also carried out by a G&M Geologist on 28th April 2021. This report is based on the data obtained from the preliminary investigation, it is limited to that data, and responsibility cannot be accepted for conditions not revealed by the investigation. Any diagram or opinion of the possible configuration of the ground conditions is conjectural and given for guidance only. During the course of the site walk-over G&M did not note the possible presence of Japanese Knotweed on the subject site. However, it should be borne in mind G&M are not qualified ecologists and as such cannot guarantee the presence of knotweed or other invasive vegetation. If necessary, the possible presence of such vegetation should be confirmed by a qualified ecologist. This report is intended for the sole use of Edlington Town Council or their representatives. No other third party may rely upon or reproduce the contents of this report without the written authorisation the report author. If any unauthorised third party comes into possession of this report they rely on it at their own risk and the author does not owe them any Duty of Care or Skill. Prepared for: Edlington Town Council May 2021 Report No C434 – Edlington Community Woodland Page 3 of 15 2.0 SITE DESCRIPTION. 2.1 Site Location. The site is located on the eastern outskirts of the village of Edlington, approximately 6km south west of Doncaster town centre, at National Grid Reference SK 533 987. A site location plan is shown on Drawing No. C434/1, presented in Appendix A of this report. 2.2 Site Features. The site is a roughly triangular parcel of land, approximately 120m wide by 270m long on its broadest axis and approximately 2 hectares in size. The long axis runs roughly north to south. The site is a flat lying piece of land with a very gentle slope from approximately 66m above Ordnance Datum (OD) in the western part of the site, to approximately 64m OD in the east. Currently the site is formally accessed from both the north and south. The southern access is through a wooden gate off a gravel hardstand access track that runs adjacent to the southern boundary of the site. The northern access is through a gate off a rough tarmac track, which eventually links to a farm to the north of the site. The site is currently formed of rough grassland, mature and semi-mature trees (no areas of distressed vegetation were noted at the time of the walkover), Limestone picnic tables and litter bins are located across the site, with a set of three limestone monoliths in the central section. The ground surface in these areas was noted to be decorative gravel chippings. An approximately 30m wide strip of undeveloped land containing rough vegetation and ground surface material considered consistent with former allotments is present, running the length of the eastern boundary of the site. G&M was advised by a representative of ETC that this area has been left to act as a buffer to the back of the current allotments which are located adjacent to the eastern boundary of the site. It was further advised that ETC propose to fence of this area from the main part of the site. The location of this area of buffer is shown on the schematic plan (Ref C434/2), presented in Appendix A of this report. In the localised areas where land appears to have been excavated to provide a flat surface for the picnic tables, a small amount of fragments of brick, tile and concrete were noted within the excavated materials. Other areas of similar material were