Almost 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools of inert materials will be bought in to turn an old quarry in Surrey into a nature conservation - although it could take at least 14 years to complete. Surrey County Council officers granted utility company Suez planning permission to restore the site in Capel near Dorking in June.

It will bring an end to the industrialisation of the land that has stretched back almost 80 years after originally being given the right to dig up the site in 1947, predating the modern planning system.

The first decade of the project will see huge swathes of the site refilled before a potential two-year pause to allow habitats to establish. This would be followed by another two years work ensuring water can drain freely from the restored land. The company described it as an “exciting project” that “will breathe new life into the worked-out clay quarry, transforming it into a beautiful landscape rich in biodiversity – with special benefits for protected species like the great crested newt.”