EX90 Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill SSSI ... - Medway Council

More documents

Recommendations

Info

4.28. MG5 is one the scarcest and most threatened of England’s lowland semi-natural grassland types (
6. Issues 6.1. Natural England is required to form a view on the special interest strictly on the basis of the scientific information, informed as appropriate by published selection guidelines. The following issues are presented to give additional context to the Executive Board’s decision. 6.2. Initial preparations for a detailed notification review of Chattenden Woods SSSI commenced in January 2012 following a request from the RSPB (letter received on 13 January 2012) to consider the importance of the site and land adjacent to it for nightingales. Contrary to the RSPB’s assertions in that letter, there was no evidence at the time to show the presence of nationally important numbers. The RSPB noted the 2012 national survey as a means for establishing the true nightingale population of the area. Accordingly, Natural England’s Kent Land Management Team included nightingale in the ‘rapid notification review’ results for Chattenden Woods SSSI as a feature to be considered further and planned for a ‘detailed notification review’ to be carried out following the results of the 2012 survey. 6.3. The preliminary results of the 2012 nightingale survey became available in mid-June 2012 and indicated (for the first time) that the Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill area supports a nationally important population. RSPB immediately drew this to the attention of Natural England and other interested parties, including the Inspector of the Medway Council Core Strategy Examination in Public. On 2 July 2012, the Executive Board commissioned relevant teams to commence assessment of the evidence for SSSI notification and, if appropriate, to prepare a case for formal consideration. 6.4. From June 2012 land owners were contacted by email or telephone to request permission to survey land and offering the opportunity to discuss the Integrated Site Assessment and notification review process. The Director of the Chattenden Syndicate (which runs a small scale shoot within woodland that it owns) met with Local Team Advisers during a recent Integrated Site Assessment. In a subsequent telephone conversation, the Syndicate Director was supportive of the notification because he felt it would help to protect the woodland. No responses have been received from the other private landowners. 6.5. A substantial part of the existing SSSI and most of the proposed extension is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The proposed extension has been allocated for development in Medway Council’s draft Core Strategy, which is currently subject to Examination in Public. It is also subject to an outline planning application for development, including 5000 houses, three schools and substantial employment uses. The allocation of this land for development has been in Medway Council’s development plan for many years and is seen as critical to the soundness of the Core Strategy. Due to the expiry of the current adopted development plan, this year, if the draft Core Strategy is found to be unsound, it could leave Medway without an adopted development plan. 6.6. The outline planning application was submitted by Land Securities, the commercial partner of MoD. As part of the development process, it is expected that land ownership will pass from MoD to Land Securities in the coming months. 6.7. The overlap between the proposed development area and the proposed SSSI extension is significant, because nightingales are distributed such that it has been necessary to draw the proposed extension boundary so that it coincides closely with the boundary of the development allocation. Land Securities and Medway Council have advised that the development proposal is not capable of substantial adjustment in scale. Thus if development were to proceed, the Page 17 of 50
Page 1 and 2: Natural England Executive Board Mee
Page 3 and 4: Natural England is considering whet
Page 5 and 6: designating nationally and internat
Page 7 and 8: the case in 2012. The peak arrival
Page 9 and 10: important factor in settlement at b
Page 11 and 12: surveyed tetrads provided by the BT
Page 13 and 14: 4.15. Regarding the possible existe
Page 15: 4.22. Medway Council also suggest t
Page 19 and 20: c) Approve the enlargement of the p
Page 21 and 22: Definitions of Favourable Condition
Page 23 and 24: Scrub habitat Scrub habitat is not
Page 25 and 26: Audit Trail Rationale for habitat e
Page 27 and 28: Other Notes Page 8 of 19 Definition
Page 29 and 30: to be relatively undisturbed mature
Page 31 and 32: Other Notes Table 3 Site specific H
Page 33 and 34: Sward composition: negative indicat
Page 35 and 36: Table 3 Site specific Habitat/geolo
Page 37 and 38: Annex 1 Map(s) of key areas for mon
Page 39 and 40: Annex 2 - Leading Counsel’s Advic
Page 41 and 42: Annex 3 A provisional population es
Page 43 and 44: Annex 4 - BTO details of quality as
Page 45 and 46: Annex 5 - Letter from Medway Counci
Page 47 and 48: Annex 6 - Letter from Land Securiti
Page 49 and 50: Annex 7 - Letter from RSPB
Page 51 and 52: ADVICE 1. I am asked to advise Natu
Page 53 and 54: features by reason of which the are
Page 55 and 56: all or part of a site of special sc
Page 57 and 58: view that once notification had occ
Page 59 and 60: 14 combined with section 28E and 28
Page 61 and 62: which the land is of special intere
Page 63 and 64: What he may have had in mind, howev
Page 65 and 66: impact on any owner or occupier’s
Page 67 and 68:
them. Accordingly in my opinion it
Page 69 and 70:
(b) conserving and enhancing the la
Page 71 and 72:
of agriculture and forestry and to
Page 73 and 74:
Ref: RJF/SF/let/4549 L5 February 20
Page 75 and 76:
Appendix Quality of BTO data Mainta
Page 77 and 78:
Record validation Individual record
Page 79 and 80:
website and was making very clear a
Page 81 and 82:
“Natural England’s draft SSSI n
Page 83 and 84:
As a result the total population (i
Page 85 and 86:
Area described in BTO survey SSSI N
Page 87 and 88:
The Council also has other concerns
Page 89 and 90:
Land Securities 5 Strand London WC2
Page 91 and 92:
Lodge Hill (cont/3) ANNEX Nightinga
Page 93 and 94:
Lodge Hill (cont / 5) areas may hav
Page 95:
Lodge Hill (cont / 7) Natural Engla
Page 100 and 101:
Contact points and further informat
Page 102 and 103:
1. Summary 1.1 This document explai
Page 104 and 105:
mixed deciduous woodland’, which
Page 106 and 107:
7.3 Where an operation has been gra
Page 108 and 109:
Site name: Chattenden Woods and Lod
Page 110 and 111:
Annex 2 Views about Management View
Page 112 and 113:
Felling, thinning or coppicing may
Page 114 and 115:
Annex 3 List of operations requirin
Page 116 and 117:
Standard reference number Type of o
Page 118 and 119:
Page 20 of 22
Page 120 and 121:
Insert extension map here - A3 land
Page 122 and 123:
Contact points and further informat
Page 124 and 125:
Summary Chattenden Woods and Lodge
Page 126 and 127:
Feature Data Source Author Date Con
Page 128 and 129:
Feature Data Source Author Date Con
Page 130 and 131:
epresented; the W10a typical sub-co
Page 132 and 133:
standards with ash coppice, which i
Page 134 and 135:
The Guidelines (Chapter 14, section
Page 136 and 137:
It is estimated that the SSSI suppo
Page 138 and 139:
‘The component fields are similar
Page 140 and 141:
4. Selection of ‘operations requi
Page 142 and 143:
Page 22 of 37
Page 144 and 145:
Page 24 of 37
Page 146 and 147:
Page 26 of 37
Page 148 and 149:
Page 28 of 37
Page 150 and 151:
Page 30 of 37
Page 152 and 153:
7. Nightingale territory map The ma
Page 154 and 155:
Insert nightingale territory map he
Page 156 and 157:
8. MG5 grassland map The map on the
show all

EX90 Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill SSSI ... - Medway Council

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?