The Greening of a Landfill Site – How Far We’ve Come…
10 August 2016 by CSG
You may remember in 2013 CSG reported on a former 10-acre landfill site at Wyrley Grove, Pelsall in Staffordshire which was operated by the Fareham based waste solutions specialist until it was declared full in 2008 and closed.
2003
With its banks of wild flowers, green hedges and young trees you could be forgiven for thinking this is a typical Summer scene in the beautiful English countryside.
2013
The site once formed part of the Wyrley Grove Colliery, which opened in 1857 and closed in 1952. The land used for waste disposal was the colliery’s washing pit and was surrounded by colliery spoil bunds which formed a large void into which the waste was tipped.
CSG called in award-winning environmental consultants White Young Green Environmental Ltd. to devise a land restoration scheme in consultation and co-operation with Staffordshire County Council and the Environment Agency.
Thousands of woodland trees were planted across the site, including oak, rowan, birch and willow, while other areas were seeded for grassland or with a huge variety of Britain’s traditional wildflowers.
New native hedgerows have been planted, while a large, newly created pond has been fringed with aquatic plants chosen to encourage wildlife to Wyrley Grove.
The scheme also includes a marshy area which has been planted to encourage biodiversity, and a wildlife corridor to help species migrate across the site.
Now, just a few years on from its closure, the area – a brownfield site since the 1850s – is alive with wildflowers, is already home to many species and is grazed by deer.
2016
