Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA)The Breckland Environmentally Sensitive Area was designated in 1988, covering 94,535ha (Figure2), it is one of 22 such areas in England. The scheme, now administered by Natural England, hasseveral objectives, including the maintenance and enhancement of the nature conservation valueof heathland, river valley grasslands and arable land. The scheme provides incentives to landownersthrough area payments against standard prescriptions to meet environmental objectives, togetherwith capital payments to support specific projects, for example, the re-introduction of grazing andrestoration of heathland vegetation. In addition to grant aiding management of heaths and rivervalley grasslands, the scheme established uncropped wildlife strips (cultivated margins) on arableland, one of only two ESAs in the country to do so, as well promoting conservation headlands(unsprayed areas of cereals) and incentives to maintain over-wintered stubbles. To date still it is theonly national statutory designation to have been conferred on Breckland. Under the agrienvironmentscheme which replaces it, Environmental Stewardship, Breckland currently remainsone of Natural England’s priorities for targeting funding.Important Plant Areas (IPAs)The Breckland Important Plant Area (IPA) has been defined and championed by Plantlife to assist intargeting protection of vascular plant, bryophyte, lichen and algal species. The IPA comprises threelayers (Figure 6); a Core Layer that indicates the key areas of botanical interest and is based onexisting statutory protection network boundaries (SSSIs); a Zone of Opportunity Layer that providesa wide boundary, indicating an area with potential for restoration to support key features in thefuture; the third layer comprises those tetrads identifying the Criterion A species (Globally andEuropean threatened plants and other threatened endemics or near endemics) (pers. comm.Pankhurst, Plantlife).44