SECTION 3.0 - Durham County Council

Biodiversity Action Plan Species and Habitats:
In order to maintain and enhance biodiversity, it is important that the relevant
species and habitat targets are adopted from the Local Biodiversity Action Plan
(LBAP).
PPS9 states that LDF’s should: ‘identify any areas or sites for the restoration
or creation of new priority habitats
which contribute to regional targets, and
support
this restoration or creation through appropriate policies.’
Published
in 1999, the first Durham Biodiversity Action Plan (DBAP), "Action for
Wildlife"
included a number of action plans to conserve and enhance identified
priority habitats and species. The Durham BAP was prepared by the Durham
Biodiversity Action Plan Partnership (DBAPP)
d individuals. A full list of the priority habitats,
pecies and associated action plans are in Appendix 5. The DBAP
15 . The revised Durham BAP was
launched in July 2007. It sets the agenda for wildlife conservation across the
County for all organisations an
s will be
periodically updated on their website. Protocols
for data collation, validation and
management for the Durham BAP are currently being established. The DBAP will
focus their
work between September 2007 and March 2008 on creating the basis
of a biodiversity data service to local authority
and other partners and consultants.
Biodiversity Action Reporting System (BARS) is an information system that
supports the planning, monitoring and reporting requirements of national, local and
company BAPs. It enables progress being made with local and
national BAPs and
the status
of BAP species and habitats to be monitored.
The Regional Spatial Strategy contains
a number of objectives related to
conserving, enhancing and capitalising upon the region’s diverse natural and built
environment, heritage and culture including the establishment of "Biodiversity
Target Zones" and "Habitat Creation
and Enhancement Areas".
Regionally there is also the Biodiversity Audit of the North
East and Biodiversity
Indicators and Targets of the North East of England.
As per above, data coverage for priority species and habitats is patchy across the
County. There is a need to carry out further survey work in order to ensure that a
more conclusive picture of the location of priority habitats and species is produced.
This will ensure that more sustainable
and informed planning decisions can be
made.
List of UKBAP and DBAP species
and habitats in appendices.
• Mapping sensitive bird areas and flight paths project
Aim of the project was to define and map
areas, and plot likely flight routes,
of particular importance for feeding and breeding bird species in order to
minimise the impact of developments that might arise as a result of Borough
Council’s Local Development Framework. The project was initiated following
consultation on Sedgefield Borough’s Core Strategy and Appropriate
15 In addition to County Durham the Durham BAP also covers Darlington, Gateshead, South
Tyneside and Sunderland.
Page 49 4/15/2009
Link with Strategic
Renewable
Energy Technical
Paper (No.14)