Entisols and Inseptisols seem to be the soil types in Redditch, but without knowing more about the weather, I cannot describe the sub types.
Why this is important detail I can describe in my soil, which is Ultisol (oldest or ultimate-last one standing) of the Udult subtype (Humid- lots of rain). Water moving down through the old pulverized clay leaches this soil badly, removing nitrogen and potassium though phos remains. It lacks calcium, sulfur, magnesium.
Because the clay is so fine of a particle, oxygen is stripped and filtered due to its relatively larger physical size compared to hydrogen, and thus the deeper you go the more H, and thus a decrease in PH. The acidity interacts with aluminum common to the red clay, and aluminum toxicity can be a result. The amendments we use are to combat these and more tendencies.
So we dig, dig, dig.
