A FORMER quarry is set to be restored and reopened to the public for scientific study next year.

Hanson Cement, which owns Coplow Quarry, is in the process of restoring the site which has been used to store landfill since it closed a number of years ago.

The decision was made because of a planning condition previously imposed on the site when it was first opened.

The old limestone quarry, which is just north of Clitheroe, has been designated as a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' (SSSI) by Natural England and is famous for having the best known exposures of a series of limestone layers, known as the Lower Coplow Knoll Series, originally formed in the Lower Carboniferous period of geological history, about 340 million years ago.

The limestone formed on the bed of a warm, shallow sea which covered the area at the time and which contained a variety of marine life.

The rocks at Coplow Quarry are particularly noted for the rich and varied fossil remains they contain.

Hanson Cement has said that restoration work is expected to be completed by September next year after which groups will be permitted to enter the quarry for further study.

Simon Moorhouse, plant manager at Hanson Cement, said: "The quarry itself has not been used for production for a number of years.

"It has been used as a place to store landfill from other quarries that we use but are in the process of capping that and restoring the area to being a green field site.

"This is called 'definitive closure', despite the quarry having not been used for some time.

"The general public can't gain access to the quarry and I would advise people not to try until it is reopened to the public next year.

"We are hoping that by September 2015, weather permitting, people will be allowed back into the quarry.

"As part of the restoration work, several faces of the rock will be kept bare as they are of interest to the scientific community."

Mr Moorhouse said that production was due to continue to do well at the Ribble Valley site in 2015 with similar levels of output as this year due.

He said however that the company had no immediate plans to add to its existing workforce.

The Natural England SSSI citation reads: "Coplow is a significant site in studies of carbonate facies relationships, and the controversial subject of the origins of the knolls in the Bowland Trough.

"A key Clitheroe Limestone site of outstanding interest for its faunas and carbonate sedimentology."