Durham County Council has agreed to delegate powers to Shincliffe Parish Council to create a nature reserve at Shincliffe Pit Heaps, a former colliery site that closed in 1886.
In 2025, Darlington College students surveyed the abandoned mine and discovered the site had developed into a "biodiverse green space". Their ecological survey found a rich variety of wildlife including songbirds, wildflowers and the increasingly rare Dingy Skipper butterfly.
Student survey leads to conservation project
Stephen Ashfield, chair of Shincliffe Parish Council and science lecturer to the surveying students, said the approval was a "major step forward".
"For me, this has been particularly rewarding because the project started with work carried out by my BTEC applied science students, who surveyed the former colliery site and looked at its biodiversity and ecological value," he said.
"It has been fantastic to see that work develop into something with a real and lasting benefit for the community. The site is an important part of Shincliffe's mining heritage, but it is also a wonderful example of nature reclaiming former industrial land."
Daniel Sowerby, 18, who took part in the survey, said the project had been "great" and could demonstrate the scale of the natural world to people outside the sciences.
Wildlife site status and next steps
Shincliffe Pit Heaps has already been designated as a Local Wildlife Site (LWS) in recognition of its wildlife value. Although the parish owns the site, only a council can provide nature reserves on land in their area, which led to the request for Durham County Council to delegate these powers.
Shincliffe Parish Council will now be responsible for all subsequent consultation, costs and management of the reserve. Natural England has supported the conversion of the former colliery into a nature reserve.
