Southfield Restoration
The Southfield site is located approximately 1km from the settlement of Shildon. The northern and western parts of the scheme are in County Durham (shown hatched) and just over half of the remainder is in Darlington Borough.
Planning permission was granted in 2001 and operations to recover some 520,000 tonnes of coal and fireclays from this 99 hectare site began in 2002 and were completed in 2004.
Southfield Restoration
•72 hectares of community woodland and associated grasslands;
• Over 9 km of new hedgerow;
• 19 hectares of species rich grasslands;
• 2 hectares of open water and wet grasslands;
• 4.8 km of new footpaths and 2.5 km of new bridleways;
• The upgrading of some 2 km of footpaths to bridleways, including a new bridleway link across the site; and
• Provision for the long term management of species rich and wet grassland areas;
• The provision of a community fund to support projects in the local community.