Conservation Planner 20 - RSPB

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Planners helping species protection Delivering biodiversity action through local government Planners in Teignbridge, Devon, are helping a threatened bird species in their area. Cirl buntings were once widespread across south-west and southern England. They rely heavily on weedy cereal stubble in winter, and on invertebrate-rich pasture in summer. Changes in farming practices in the 1960s and ‘70s caused their population to decline dramatically. Today, just under 700 breeding pairs survive, confined largely to south Devon. The species is also threatened by the demand for new housing, industry and roads. The RSPB is concerned that extensions to urban settlements, particularly in and around Teignbridge, could wipe out many breeding pairs and their habitat. The Teignbridge district supports the species at the most northerly point of its range and is, therefore, of vital strategic importance in any recovery project. At the recent Devon Structure Plan Examination In Public, the RSPB and Teignbridge District Council planners contested a proposal to expand Exeter city limits to include Exminster village – a well-known hotspot for cirl buntings. The Inspector supported our views and recommended no new housing at Exminster. The district council is now reviewing its Local Plan and considering how to minimise the impact of any development on cirl buntings. In the meantime, the RSPB has been working with Teignbridge District Council to produce supplementary planning guidance. This will help developers and planners when they are considering development in cirl bunting areas. It will suggest ways of avoiding adverse effects and providing benefits for the species instead. It will also explain how to minimise any unwanted effects through mitigation and offer advice on using compensation measures if planning permission that will adversely affect cirl buntings is granted in exceptional circumstances. We hope that this approach will help to ensure a safe future for one of Devon’s special birds. Cath Jeffs Cirl Bunting Project Officer, South West Regional Office e-mail: cath.jeffs@rspb.org.uk Integrated action by planners is helping this rare bird Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com) David Kinney Biodiversity-inspired public art – a mosaic made from recycled tiles, plates and cutlery, created by local people in association with the Broughty Ferry Environmental Project. The Scottish Biodiversity Forum (SBF) is producing useful guidance to help local authorities take on their growing responsibility for biodiversity. The increasing involvement of local authorities in biodiversity enhancement has several drivers. Each one recognises the importance of biodiversity as a key element of sustainable development. The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 requires the best value process to be delivered in a way that helps to achieve sustainable development. The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill (draft) introduces a general biodiversity duty that will apply to every public body and office-holder in Scotland. This duty will oblige them ‘to further the conservation of biodiversity’ in carrying out their work. The draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy’s 25-year vision states that the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity underpins all decision-making and practice. The SBF publication investigates these legislative and policy drivers and explores opportunities to enhance biodiversity through the community planning process. It makes the link to Local Biodiversity Action Plans (LBAPs), which help local authorities to deliver sustainable development targets. LBAPs identify environmental objectives and targets for priority species and habitats, so that development can incorporate them. Unfortunately, there has not been enough work done to ensure that local authorities are integrating biodiversity into all their areas of service delivery. This publication addresses this gap by showing where local authorities have already been successful, and where they can do more to benefit biodiversity in most, if not all, of their service delivery areas. The publication includes: ● case studies on biodiversity conservation action taken by local authorities across Scotland ● information on what is meant by, and the importance of, biodiversity and sustainable development in relation to best value and community planning ● a summary of existing publications that offer advice and guidance on delivering biodiversity ● a range of performance indicators that can be used to measure progress. The publication will be promoted to all Scottish local authorities, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Scottish Executive, Royal Town Planning Institute and other relevant bodies, through meetings, conferences and seminars. For more information on ‘Best Value, Community Planning and Biodiversity in Scotland’, please contact: Jo Lenthall Scotland LBAP Project Officer, Scottish Biodiversity Forum, c/o Scotland Headquarters e-mail: joanna.lenthall@rspb.org.uk 2
Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk – putting reedbeds back into the fen landscape Mike Page (rspb-images.com) It’s all mapped out Planners everywhere are embracing the work of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). For example, in Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council adopted its Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) as supplementary planning guidance. In Cambridgeshire, the Cambourne development had its own LBAP – as a result, bird numbers have increased since development and different habitats have been created. Some planners are taking other leaps forward by mapping ‘enhancement areas’ in their plans. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Biodiversity Partnership has produced a unique new map, revealing a vision of how the county’s wildlife habitats could look in 50 years. It shows a dramatic change in the landscape, with new fens and large areas of woodland and grassland. This map is the first of its kind in Britain and may even be the first produced for any region in Europe. Crucially, the map has engaged the public. Included in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Structure Plan, it will influence future planning decisions in the county and is already making planners and councillors aware of the need for habitat creation projects. In Dorset, Purbeck District Council planners have identified and mapped a ‘Heathland Zone’ in their Local Plan. This zone has been defined in consultation with English Nature, based on the distribution of underlying sands and gravels that may have supported heathland in the past. The zone includes existing developed areas and areas that are proposed for development. This is because heathland re-creation may combine well with development in these areas. The Local Plan states that heathland re-creation that is agreed in conjunction with planning applications will be secured using planning obligations. A ‘heathland re-creation’ policy states that: ‘development proposals that are in accordance with other policies in this Local Plan and that include provision for heathland re-creation within the heathland zone (as defined on the Proposals Map), particularly by extending existing heathlands or linking existing heathland fragments, will be permitted’. In the ‘Proposed Changes’ of the Draft Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands, there is an ‘Areas of Enhancement’ map that shows where concentrated biodiversity enhancement could take place. A related policy states that: ‘all the plans and programmes of local authorities and other relevant agencies in the West Midlands should encourage the maintenance and enhancement of the Region’s wider biodiversity resources, giving priority to […] the biodiversity enhancement areas shown on the Quality of Environment Areas of Enhancement diagram’. At the East Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy Public Examination last year, the East Midlands Biodiversity Forum presented a map that they had produced of ‘Biodiversity Enhancement Areas’. These are areas of the region where biodiversity is exceptionally poor or where there are opportunities to reverse biodiversity losses by implementing habitat creation projects on a large scale. We hope that this map will be included in the final Regional Spatial Strategy. The planning system, with its strong spatial element, is ideally placed to translate BAP targets into specific or broad locations where action might take place. As a result, we hope to see more work like this soon. Heather Mitchell Editor, UK Headquarters e-mail: heather.mitchell@rspb.org.uk To view the 50-year wildlife vision map, visit: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/sub/cntryside/biodiv and search under ‘Council services’, ‘Environment and countryside’, ‘Biodiversity and wildlife’, and ‘News and events’. To view Purbeck’s work, visit www.purbeck.gov.uk and search under ‘Services’, ‘Planning’, ‘Planning policy’ and ‘Further proposed modifications – November 2003’. 3
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Conservation Planner 20 - RSPB

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