This working quarry site, which occupies the western part of the Grange Estate, is now owned by Hope Construction Ltd and is the base of operations for its aggregates business in this part of the Ouse Valley. The naturally occurring sand and gravel deposits in the area and the resulting extraction of these minerals have been instrumental in providing the opportunity to create the BRVP.
Minerals activities will continue to have a key role in the area and the establishment and development of the BRVP will be closely associated with the mineral restoration process, as directed by the minerals planning authority. The Willington Quarry site handles all of the sand and gravel being extracted within and around the BRVP area, dealing with the cleaning, sorting and grading of many thousands of tonnes of aggregate each year to provide essential raw materials.
As a working quarry site, the area is not accessible to the public for health and safety reasons. Restoration works in the vicinity of the Hope Construction Willington Quarry site at the Grange Estate, which includes a number of settling lagoons, some plant and stockpiled materials are not expected to be underway until December 2016, but have the potential to create additional areas of woodlands, wetlands and grasslands as part of the ‘floodplain forest’ vision.