Evaluation procedures for restored land

Release of land for mineral extraction is often dependent on the quality of the restoration which can be achieved. It follows, therefore, that some means of judging the success of restoration is required, especially where restoration is an agricultural after use.In order to assess whether land has been well restored it is therefore necessary to know what the physical characteristics of the land were before mineral extraction took place, what changes are likely to have occurred to the land and soil as a result of mineral extraction, and lastly whether the physical characteristics of the land are as good as when the land was last used for agriculture. Most permissions however, were granted before there was a requirement to record pre-site conditions so it is impossible to know what the site was like when it was last used for agriculture. Furthermore, this paper will argue that land quality is only one factor which should be considered in assessing the quality of restored land, other factors for example, visual integration, farm management must also be taken into consideration. This paper will outline the existing evaluation procedures used by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food and Minerals Planners and suggest developing an evaluation procedure which considers various dimensions of restored land namely soil and land quality, visual integration and the management and productivity of restored land. This evaluation procedure has been applied to seventeen study sites of sand and gravel pits. The paper will indicate whether the evaluation procedure successfully classified these sites or not.