Onshore mineral resource maps

Cumbria, showing surface planning permissions and major environmental designations. Ordnance Survey digital licence 100017897/2008.

Minerals are essential for the development of a modern economy, but their extraction is subject to environmental and other constraints. Bringing together minerals, environmental and other land-use information in an integrated system allows more effective and sustainable management strategies to be developed.

Mineral resource maps in England and parts of South Wales

The BGS was commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), through the research project 'Mineral resource information in support of national, regional and local planning', to prepare a series of 'county' mineral resource maps. This work was completed in early 2006 and a series of digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are available. These maps cover 44 administrative areas or groups of administrative areas, giving information for the whole of England and parts of South Wales.

Four major elements of information are presented on the summary maps:

the geological distribution of all onshore mineral resources
the location of mineral extraction sites
the extent of mineral planning permissions and licences for coal extraction
the extent of selected landscape and nature-conservation designations (National Parks, AONBs, SSSIs, NNRs and scheduled monuments)

A primary objective was to produce baseline data in a consistent format that can be updated, revised and customised to suit planning needs, including for use in the preparation of mineral development plan documents and regional spatial strategies.

All the data on the 'county maps' has been merged to produce an online minerals information GIS for each English region. The maps and associated reports can be downloaded:

County	Products	Date published	Reference number
Bedfordshire	Report Map	1995	WF/95/2
Berkshire (comprising West Berkshire, Reading, Wokingham, Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest and Slough)	Report Map	2004	CR/03/074N
Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes	Report Map	2004	CR/03/77N
Cambridgeshire (comprising Cambridgeshire and the City of Peterborough)	Report Map	2003	CR/02/131N
Cheshire (comprising Cheshire, Boroughs of Halton and Warrington)	Report Map	2006	CR/05/090N
Cornwall	Report Map	1997	WF/97/11
Cumbria and Lake District	Report Three maps: Sand and gravel; north and south; Other resources	2001	WF/01/02
Derbyshire	Report Map	1995	WF/95/3
Devon (comprising Devon, Plymouth, Torbay, Dartmoor National Park and part of Exmoor National Park)	Report Two maps: North and south	2006	CR/05/096N
Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole	Report Map	2001	WF/01/01
Durham and Tees Valley	Report Map	2000	WF/00/6
East Sussex (comprising Brighton and Hove and East Sussex)	Report Map	2002	CR/02/126N
Essex (comprising Essex, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock, London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest)	Report Map	2002	CR/02/127N
Gloucestershire (comprising Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire)	Report Map	2006	CR/05/105N
Greater Manchester (comprising Cities of Manchester and Salford and Metropolitan Boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan)	Report Map	2006	CR/05/182N
Hampshire (comprising Hampshire, City of Portsmouth and City of Southampton)	Report Map	2003	CR/02/129N
Herefordshire and Worcestershire	Report Map	1999	WF/99/4
Hertfordshire and north-west London boroughs	Report Map	2003	CR/03/075/N
Humberside (comprising East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and City of Kingston upon Hull)	Report Map	2005	CR/04/227N
Isle of Wight	Report Map	2002	CR/02/130N
Kent (comprising Kent, Medway and London Boroughs of Bexley and Bromley)	Report Map	2003	CR/02/125N
Lancashire (comprising Lancashire and Boroughs of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen)	Report Map	2006	CR/05/144N
Leicestershire, City of Leicester and Rutland	Report Map	2002	CR/02/24/N
Lincolnshire	Report Two maps: North and south	2003	CR/02/128N
London boroughs	No report Map	2003
Merseyside (comprising City of Liverpool and Boroughs of Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral)	Report Map	2005	CR/05/129N
Norfolk	Report Map	2004	CR/03/174N
North Yorkshire (comprising North Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks and City of York)	Report Two maps: East and west	2006	CR/04/228N
Northamptonshire	Report Map	2000	WF/00/4
Northumberland and Tyne and Wear	Report Two maps: North and south	2000	WF/00/5
Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham	Report Map	2002	CR/02/23/N
Oxfordshire	Report Map	2004	CR/04/62N
Peak District National Park	Report Map	1995	WF/95/4
Shropshire	Report Two maps: Sand and gravel; other minerals	1998	WF/98/6
Somerset (comprising Somerset, North Somerset, Bath & North East Somerset, City of Bristol and part of Exmoor National Park)	Report Map	2005	CR/04/214N
South Wales	Report Two maps: coal and other minerals	1997	WF/97/10
South Yorkshire (comprising Metropolitan Boroughs of Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham and City of Sheffield)	Report Map	2006	CR/04/173N
Staffordshire	Report Two maps: Sand and gravel resources Mineral resources (other than sand and gravel)	1995	WF/95/5
Suffolk	Report Map	2003	CR/03/076N
Surrey (comprising Surrey and the London Boroughs of Croydon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton)	Report Map	2003	CR/03/073N
Warwickshire	Report Map	1999	WF/99/2
West Midlands	Report Map	1999	WF/99/3
West Sussex	Report Map	1998	WF/98/5
West Yorkshire (comprising Metropolitan Boroughs of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield and City of Leeds)	Report Map	2006	CR/04/172N
Wiltshire (comprising Wiltshire and the Borough of Swindon)	Report Map	2004	CR/04/049N

Mineral resource maps in Northern Ireland

Following a commission from the Department of the Environment, BGS and its counterpart the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) produced a mineral resources map of Northern Ireland. The map is intended to assist strategic decision making in respect of mineral extraction and the protection of important mineral resources against sterilisation. Six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 scale are now available:

The map has been produced by the collation and interpretation of mineral resource data principally held by GSNI. The major elements of information presented on the map are:

geological distribution of all onshore (above low water mark) mineral resources
extent of mineral planning permissions and their current planning status (extant or expired)
recorded occurrences of metallic minerals
recorded location of building stone quarries
extent of selected landscape and nature-conservation designations (SACs, SPAs, RAMSAR sites, AONBs, ASSIs, NNR and scheduled monuments) and planning designations (Area of Constraint on Mineral Developments)

Mineral resource maps in Scotland

BGS was awarded a grant from the Scottish Government Aggregates Levy Fund in 2007 to provide a comprehensive, relevant and accessible information base to enhance the sustainability of mineral resources for 18 local authorities in the central belt of Scotland. BGS co-funded this project through its Sustainable Mineral Solutions project. This work was completed in March 2008. A guide to minerals information in the central belt of Scotland and a series of found digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are available:

The maps show surface mineral resources, mineral working and the extent of selected national or international landscape and nature-onservation designations (National Parks, NSAs, SPAs, SACs SSSIs, NNRs, Ramsar sites and scheduled monuments).

Four major elements of information are presented on the summary maps:

geological distribution of all onshore mineral resources
location of mineral extraction sites
extent of mineral planning permissions and licences for coal extraction
extent of selected landscape and nature-conservation designations (National Parks, AONBs, SSSIs, NNRs and scheduled monuments)

Mineral resource maps in Wales

BGS was awarded a grant from the Welsh Government-administered Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund for Wales in 2009 to provide a comprehensive, relevant and accessible information base to enhance the sustainability of mineral resources in Wales. BGS co-funded this project through its Sustainable Mineral Solutions team, part of the Minerals and Waste science programme. This work, which was led from the BGS Cardiff office, was completed in July 2010. The mineral resource maps of Wales and a series of six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are now available:

The major elements of minerals information presented on the maps are:

geological distribution of all onshore (above low water mark) mineral resources in Wales
location of mineral extraction sites
recorded occurrences of metallic minerals
recorded location of former slate quarries and significant areas of slate waste
recorded location of historic building stone quarries

Aggregates safeguarding maps in Wales

As mineral resources are finite and not evenly distributed, knowledge about their whereabouts is essential for making effective and sustainable planning decisions that consider the needs of future generations. Access to mineral resources can be prevented or restricted (sterilised) by non-mineral development and the process of 'mineral safeguarding' ensures that this does not occur unnecessarily when planning applications are determined. An effective safeguarding system requires the adoption of 'mineral safeguarding areas' and the adoption of suitable policies through which development is managed in these areas.

The aggregates safeguarding maps have been compiled to assist mineral planning authorities (MPAs) in the delineation of aggregates safeguarding areas in local development plans. The aggregates safeguarding maps of Wales and a series of six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are now available: