Environmental Character Area Profile for the Minerals Local Plan: 1. Teme Valley and Wyre Forest 1. Introduction 1.1. Minerals development usually takes place on previously undeveloped land and can therefore result in permanent change to the natural environment and green spaces in Worcestershire. The impacts of both the working and the restoration of mineral sites need to be considered in detail in the development of the Worcestershire Minerals Local Plan (the MLP). 1.2. The Council will take a 'green infrastructure' (GI) approach to considering these impacts. The GI approach is a different way of thinking about the green spaces in Worcestershire. It moves beyond solely considering the environmental benefits of green spaces and integrates the consideration of economic, health and social benefits in the planning and management of green spaces. Rather than considering each green space in isolation it looks at the ways in which individual sites and corridors of green space collectively form the distinctive character of Worcestershire that attracts both visitors and business to the County. 1.3. The components of GI include biodiversity, landscape, historic environment, access and recreation and water (also know as blue infrastructure). The GI approach requires thinking about the environment as an integrated system of stepping stones or nodes in a wider network1. Green infrastructure and mineral workings and restoration 1.4. There is significant potential for mineral workings to destroy existing networks of green infrastructure if the nature and character of these networks is not taken into account. However there is also significant potential to contribute positively to green infrastructure through the restoration of mineral workings. 1.5. The GI approach extends beyond thinking about designated sites of biodiversity or historic interest. This means that the impact of a mineral working on the wider environment and the integrated system of stepping stones or nodes in a wider network2 will need to be considered. Environmental Character Areas3 and the Minerals Local Plan 1.6. The Worcestershire Green Infrastructure Partnership has undertaken an analysis of the landscape character, biodiversity and the historic environment of Worcestershire to identify 30 distinct GI Environmental Character Areas (ECAs). Details about how these were developed is set out in Planning for a Multifunctional Green Infrastructure Framework in 1 Green Infrastructure Guidance – Natural England. 2 Green Infrastructure Guidance – Natural England. 3 Worcestershire County Council (July 2012) Planning for a Multifunctional Green Infrastructure Framework in Worcestershire: Green Infrastructure Framework 2 1 Worcestershire: Green Infrastructure Framework 2 (2012) available at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/GI 1.7. These underlie the distinctive character of Worcestershire and it is the Council's intention that the unique characteristics of each area will drive the restoration strategy for the Minerals Local Plan. 1.8. This is one of 30 profile documents which set out the characteristics and priorities for the each ECA. It sets out the mineral resources in the ECA and the GI priorities identified by the Worcestershire GI Partnership. These priorities are structured around biodiversity, historic environment, landscape character, water environment (also known as blue infrastructure) access and recreation and transport. The document is also supplemented by other locally relevant information as appropriate. 1.9. This information will be used to develop the spatial strategy and restoration priorities for each ECA. 1.10. Profiles for each of the following ECAs are available on our website www.worcestershire.gov.uk/mineralsbackground: 1.11. The Environmental Character Areas are: 1. Teme Valley & Wyre Forest 15. Bow Brook South 2. Severn Valley North 16. Evesham Valley 3. North Worcestershire Hills 17. Broadway & Cotswold 4. Forest of Feckenham & Corridor Feckenham Wetlands 18. Carrant Brook Corridor 5. Lenches Ridge 19. Longdon Hinterland 6. Bredon 20. Kempsey Plain 7. Severn Valley South 21. River Teme Corridor 8. Bushley 22. Severn Meadows Corridor 9. Malvern Chase and 23. Eardiston Commons 24. Bewdley Fringe 10. Hagley Hinterland 25. Birchen Coppice 11. Hollywood & Wythall 26. Birlingham 12. Bromsgrove – Redditch 27. Crowle Corridor 28. Defford 13. Mid-Worcestershire 29. Bickmarsh Corridor 30. Long Marston 14. East Wychavon These are illustrated on Figure 1. Environmental Character Areas. 2 Figure 1. Environmental Character Areas 3 2. Characteristics and priorities of the Teme Valley and Wyre Forest ECA Figure 2. Environmental Character Area 1. Teme Valley: Mineral Resources Mineral Resources Aggregates 2.1. Details about the aggregate resources in this ECA are given in the background report "Analysis of Mineral Resources in Worcestershire" available on www.worcestershire.gov.uk/mineralsbackground. The following is therefore only a simple summary. Sand and gravel 2.2. Large terrace, glacial and solid sand and gravel resources exist in ECA 1 but are of both uneven quality and quantity. The geological mapping of the valley within ECA1 is poor and exposures are scarce. 2.3. Potential sand and gravel deposits exist along the length of the Teme Valley. They are most extensive near its confluence with the River Severn but extend, to some extent, all the way to the county’s western border with Herefordshire and Shropshire. In many places details are poor, deposits are shown along the Kyre Brook on the 1:50,000 digital BGS map for example but not referred to in the (much older) memoir. 4 2.4. The memoir also reports that the Teme valley is reported to be "free from glacial deposits except for a few scattered patches of glacial sand and gravel and of boulder clay." These are not shown on the 1:50,000 map and are assumed to be insignificant. There are no active or recorded historic planning permissions for mineral working along the Teme or Kyre valleys. The memoir records that "The limited gravels along the Teme valley have been used locally for roads." There is no evidence at present that the sand and gravel deposits in the Teme and Kyre valleys are likely to be of any commercial interest. By contrast the Severn and Stour Valleys (north of Stourport and around Kidderminster) have been extensively worked in the past for sand and gravel notably at a relatively large-scale at Lickhill Quarry and the adjacent Brant Farm Quarry, near Stourport in the Severn Valley. The last of these sites is however now being restored. Sand and gravel working was also undertaken in the Stour Valley before planning controls were introduced. Deposits of Wildmoor sandstone are present and were worked in the past to produce moulding (Silica) sand. There are no however no active sand and gravel quarries in the area today. 2.5. Significant deposits of Kidderminster Formation (formerly Bunter Pebble Beds) run North-east –South-west from Kidderminster. These deposits extend northward into ECA 10 and could be very deep but no planning permissions appear to have been made to work this resource in the past. Hard rock 2.6. There are locally significant limestone resources in this area along the hill ridges between Abberley, and Martley. Limestone quarrying took place over very long periods and at a large scale in the Abberley Hills at Shavers end, Woodbury Hill and Rodge Hill and Penny Hill. All of these operations have now ceased, the quality of the resource was not high by modern standards and large permitted reserves were left unworked at Shavers End. Building stone 2.7. Building stone was produced in the past from a variety of strata and many of the local churches and historic buildings are constructed from local stone. The Abberley Clock Tower is constructed from a small, local Inlier of the Upper Ludlow beds. One of the largest outcrops of calcareous tufa in the country is at Southstone Rock and has been used in the construction of the church at St Andrew's church Shelsley Walsh and for the vaulting of Worcester Cathedral. The Upper and Lower Mottled (Wildmoor) Sandstone strata have been used as a building stone but the material is often very soft. Sandstone 2.8. Sandstones in the Highley group have been worked near Upper Arley and were used to build Arley Castle among other buildings. 2.9. Keele group Sandstones have also been worked for building stone in the upper Arley area and are capable of producing large blocks. 5 Industrial minerals Clay 2.10. Fire Clay was worked in the 19th century in the north of this ECA, next to the River Severn for the production of fire bricks and common red bricks, coarse pottery bricks and tiles. 2.11. Clay from the Mercia Mudstone group is found in the south of the ECA. 2.12. There is no history of planning permissions for clay working in the ECA. Lime 2.13. Lime was produced at some scale in the north of the ECA and the remains of kilns can still be found. Silica sand 2.14. The area has also formed a focus for a number of small quarries exploiting the Wildmoor Sandstone formation, a fine-grained and weakly cemented stone which was used widely in the past to produce silica sand for the foundry castings industry but is now more commonly used as a source of building sand. All of these sites have ceased production. Brine 2.15. There is no evidence of brine working in this area or that Halite deposits might exist at depth. Energy minerals Coal 2.16. Coalfields in Worcestershire are restricted to the north of the county, to the west of Kidderminster and just south of Stourbridge. These are part of larger coalfields that extend north of the county into Staffordshire, but the area of workable coal in the county is relatively small. Despite their presence it is unlikely there will be any interest in working them in the lifetime of the Minerals Local Plan.