Start the Soils Site Reporter

The Soils Site Reporter is an easy-to-use, online soil reporting tool which produces site-specific soils information with maps and soil descriptions. As the national authority on the sustainable management of soil resources for England and Wales, NSRI holds a vast collection of soils information, now available in a matter of minutes with the input of a grid reference or Postcode.

Each report, downloadable in pdf format, provides detailed information on the expected soil conditions at the site and outlines interpretations of the suitability for different uses. A variety of environmental issues such as the potential of damaging ground movement or pipe corrosion and the ease with which chemicals can leach into groundwater or run off into rivers are also included.

Those undertaking an environmental impact assessment (EIA) or a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are required by EU law (85/337/EEC & 2001/42/EC) to identify, describe and assess the direct and indirect effects of a proposed project scheme on the soil environment (the ground) and its functions and composition, as well as and closely-related environmental themes (e.g. groundwater, flora, fauna, landscape).

The Cranfield Soils Site Reporter provides an ideal preliminary reference source for these assessments as it identifies and describes the soils present around a site, and highlights potential issues which should be considered as part of these integrated assessments.

The report describes the interaction between soil and habitats, water movement, and the impact of soil on material assets and cultural heritage in the form of damaging ground movement and conditions. A description of the interaction between these factors is also required by EU legislation.

The inclusion of a Soils Site Report in an EIA or SEA will quickly enable you to understand and communicate the key issues surrounding the soil “land bank” relating to your project, as well as to provide pertinent information on a range of other issues including flood extent vulnerability, geo-hazards and background levels of soil contaminants.

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Three indicative sample reports are available below:

Full Soil Report (5 km x 5 km)

Environmental Soil Report (1 km x 1 km)

Undergraduate Student Soil Report (3 km x 3 km)

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Each report contains a range of maps, graphs and schematic diagrams to help describe the soils and their properties at and around the specified point. There are currently three types of report available. The contents of these different reports and their prices are outlined below:

1. SOILS - SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
a. Soil Association Distribution
b. Hydrology of Soil Type (HOST)
c. Ground Movement Potential
d. Flood Vulnerability
e. Risk of Corrosion to Ferrous Iron
f. Pesticide Leaching Risk
g. Pesticide Runoff Risk
h. Hydrogeological Rock Type
i. Ground Water Protection Policy (GWPP) Leaching
j. Soil Parent Material
k. Expected Crops and Land Use
l. Natural Soil Fertility
m. Simple Topsoil Texture
n. Typical Habitats
2. SOIL ASSOCIATION DESCRIPTIONS
a. General Description
b. Distribution Map (England & Wales)
c. Comprising Soil Series
d. Component Series Profiles Diagrams
e. Soil Properties (three components, below)
i. Soil Depth Information and Depths to Important Layers
ii. Soil Hydrological Information
iii. Available Water Content
3. TOPSOIL ELEMENT BACKGROUND LEVELS
a. Analysis within a 15 km Radius
b. Analysis within a 50 km Radius
c. National Analysis
Prices (exclusive of VAT) By report area coverage
1 km x 1 km (1 km2)	£40	†	£65
2 km x 2 km (4 km2)	£43	†	£70
3 km x 3 km (9 km2)	£46	†	£74
4 km x 4 km (16 km2)	£49	†	£80
5 km x 5 km (25 km2)	£52	†	£85
† We are pleased to offer the report FREE to authorised undergraduate students (BSc, NVQ etc.) and their course teachers.

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Do costs vary depending on user type?

Yes, costs vary according to your requirements.

• The Environmental Soils Site Reports are provided free of charge for authorised members of Crown Government Departments. Unfortunately this currently excludes Local Councils and Executive Agencies.
• Some companies and organisations have licences arranged providing free access to these reports for their staff. If this would be of interest to your company, please contact us at nsridata@cranfield.ac.uk for more information.
• Other users may access this service for a fee payable per report. Registration is free and there are no annual charges or additional costs.

Who is the Site Reporter aimed at?

Although of a technical nature, these reports are aimed to be of interest to a wide range of people: environmental consultants, planning officers, geotechnical engineers, interested home owners, agronomists and habitat scientists to name but a few.

How do I access the Site Repoter?

Here is how to access the Site Reporter service:

• First, log on to our secure website https://www.landis.org.uk/sitereporter;
• If you do not already have an account, this can be created easily following the instructions there;
• Input your site, referenced by Postcode, map grid reference or by browsing the map to select the point;
• Next, select the type of report and size of your area (1Km x 1Km up to 5Km x 5Km);
• Checkout; the report will be emailed to you shortly thereafter.

I am an Undergraduate student / Undergraduate lecturer - how do I access the Soil Site Report for free?

Part of our mission is to encourage soils education and awareness in Universities and Colleges, we have therefore made Soil Site Reports free of charge for all UK Undergraduate students (e.g. BSc, NVQ etc.) and their course teachers. To sign up for this, when you go to the Soils Site Reporter homepage, select 'Create new customer account', and then choose from the academic options depending on whether you are a student or a lecturer. To speed up the authorisation process, don't forget to use your College email address as your main contact point. Your email 'domain' is checked against the permissible instututions. If you have any problems, please contact us directly.

How do I pay for a Soils Site Report?

We have built the Soils Site Reporter with an integrated secure online payment facility, using RBS Worldpay. This allows for swift and convenient access to the Reporter, with secure and confidential payments. No financial details (e.g credit card details) are held by Cranfield University.

If you do not have a credit card, or do not wish to use your credit card to purchase a Soils Site Report, you can also send us a Purchase Order which specifies clearly the type and location of report you require. We will then generate the report for you and send you an invoice. Please note that due to the administrative overhead associated with Purchase Orders, we will exact an additional £15 surcharge in these cases. Reports ordered by Purchase Order may also be subject to a delay of up to 15 working days. Reports ordered and paid for online are delivered typically within five minutes.

What security measures are there for online payments

Our financial transactions are handled by RBS WorldPay, so you can be confident of your details being secure. No financial details (e.g credit card details) are held by Cranfield University. Our website is built using an encrypted SSL (secure sockets layer) - look for the 'https' in the URL.

Do I need the Flash browser-plugin?

Our website application does require the freely-available Adobe Flash plugin to be installed on your machine. Not having the Flash plugin installed is a common reason for problems you may encounter running the application. The Flash browser plugin is free; note you may require administrative privileges to install it on your PC.

As a University Undergraduate teacher, how can I inform my undergraduate students about the Soil Site Reporter?

We recommend circulating this informative poster, or placing a copy on an appropriate notice board. Many thanks. Don't forget - there is no charge for your students or your teaching activities!

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The Soils Site Reporter is used widely by a broad range of parties

For further details concerning the Soils Site Reporter, please contact us:

Timothy Farewell
LandIS Information Services Manager
National Soil Resources Institute (NSRI)
Cranfield University
Building 53
Cranfield campus
Cranfield
MK43 0AL
Tel: (01234) 75 29 78
Fax: 01234 752970
nsridata@cranfield.ac.uk
Personal web page
NSRI Institute homepage

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