Central Rivers Area Strategy Update A report produced by Ashmead Price on behalf of the Central Rivers Initiative Partnership December 2008 Contents Page 1. Introduction and Methodology 3 1.1 Background to the study 3 1.2 Methodology 5 2. Review of Original Aims and Objectives and Current Position 9 3. Key Themes and Opportunities 19 3.1 Gravel extraction and restoration 19 3.2 Planning and development 23 3.3 Landscape 26 3.4 Biodiversity 29 3.5 Tourism 34 3.6 Access 39 3.7 Sport and recreation 42 3.8 Historic environment 43 3.9 Agriculture 45 3.10 Involving people 46 4. Land Use Strategy 49 4.1 Review of Strategy 49 4.2 Measures of success 54 5. Central Rivers Area in 2020 56 6. Action Plan, Priorities and Programme 59 6.1 Project potentials 59 6.2 Project delivery 65 6.3 Future marketing strategy 66 6.4 Funding opportunities and financial sustainability 67 7. Conclusions 70 Appendices 71 Acknowledgements The team would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of those who participated in the various parts of the Strategy Review work. In particular, we are grateful to Guy Corbett-Marshall and Nick Mott from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and the members of the CRI Steering Group for their active support in the completion of the work. Ashmead Price,16 Bond End, Yoxall, Burton upon Trent DE13 8NH Telephone: 01543 473222 Central Rivers Area Strategy Update, December 2008 2 1. Introduction and Methodology 1.1 Background to the study The Central Rivers Initiative was established as a partnership in November 1997. It brings together a number of partners and supporters including Staffordshire County Council, East Staffordshire Borough Council, Lichfield District Council, Tamworth Borough Council, Hanson Aggregates, Lafarge, Aggregate Industries, the National Memorial Arboretum, The National Forest Company, Environment Agency, Natural England, Sport England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, British Waterways, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, and most recently Advantage West Midlands and OnTrent. A strategy report was produced on behalf of the partners in April 1999 and a project officer was employed to promote the implementation of this strategy between 2001 and 2004. Other landmark achievements of the project to date have included the establishment of web pages linked to the Staffordshire County Council site and the Biodiversity Audit of the Tame and Trent River Valleys in Staffordshire in 2006-7 by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. In recent years there has been a move away from site-specific biodiversity targets towards a landscape scale ecosystem approach to habitat management and landscape enhancement. The Central Rivers area potentially demonstrates the best of the opportunities for this approach in Staffordshire, and so it was considered to be a good time to review and update the original report. A project brief for the Update report was developed in April 2008 and a number of key tasks were agreed in order to achieve the stated project aim: . .. . Central Rivers Area Strategy Update, December 2008 3 Key tasks were identified in the project brief as follows: Assess project progress to date a stocktaking exercise to record achievements, consider recent policies, identify available documents and review information held by adjacent projects/partner organisations. Create a map-based asset register using East Staffordshire, Lichfield & Tamworth Tourism Registers and National Forest information as a starting point. Identify and make recommendations for the most appropriate delivery structure for the initiative (i.e. project offices and lead roles for partners). Consult stakeholders. Update list of stakeholders. Examine and map stakeholder links and additional contacts or projects outside area. Arrange meetings with active estate managers for all quarries in the area (Aggregate Industries and Hanson Lafarge) to secure the latest restoration plans and opportunities to promote revisions which would be in accord with the updated strategy. Arrange meetings with the Environment Agency, the Mineral Planners, Staffordshire Destination Management Partnership and Advantage West Midlands to capture their views on opportunities and practicalities for the creation of a Midlands Water Park. Undertake a comparison with other water parks in the UK, including the Nene Valley in Northamptonshire and the Cotswold Water Park. Identify the processes and protocols which saw the establishment of each of these areas and how they continue to be maintained and funded. Use these findings to help inform recommendations for proposals to designate CRI and the wider Tame-Trent Valleys as a Midlands Water Park and its ideal structure. Develop a questionnaire to send out to all interested parties and potential stakeholders (e.g. Parish Councils, Community Groups, Friends of Groups, Landowners) to help identify other key priorities and issues. Invite these interested parties and stakeholders to a Forum to be held to launch the new study once it has been completed. Examine CRI boundary validity. Assess initial project boundaries and produce a mapping exercise to determine the most effective boundary (or project) to take forward CRI aims and objectives. Include an assessment of neighbouring counties which link to the CRI area: Derbyshire (Transforming Central Rivers Area Strategy Update, December 2008 4 the Trent Project), Nottinghamshire (Attenborough Nature Reserve and its surrounding river valley), Warwickshire (Kingsbury Water Park complex and other sites within the Tame Valley Wetlands Project area) and Birmingham/West Midlands. Future CRI objectives and feasibility. Assess the most effective way forward for the CRI Initiative, following the consultation exercise and review of the 1999 strategy. Indicate key future CRI objectives and implementation required. Propose funding opportunities and marketing strategy. Recommend a future financial sustainability model. 1.2 Methodology The following methodology was adopted based on the brief, and the study was undertaken between September 1st and December 31st 2008. A desk review of the 1999 ENTEC strategy was undertaken to extract all relevant document references to the study area from the report. Meetings were held with the SWT project team to list more recent initiatives, plans, strategies and proposals relating to the study area. The references were reviewed to assess their current status and anticipated review times. The documents were collated and hard copies housed at the Wildlife Trust offices as permanent library copies. An electronic version was also collated where available on disc or by listing web links. Information was collated to inform an asset register of visitor and tourist attractions relevant to the study area. A map base was marked up on a paper copy provided by SWT and information transferred to GIS by the SWT mapping technician under our supervision. The asset register was also produced in table form and presented in the report. Central Rivers Area Strategy Update, December 2008 5 A list of stakeholders was provided by SWT and meetings were arranged with the organisations during the study. A full list of consultees is contained in Appendix 1. A comprehensive questionnaire form was developed for stakeholders to identify priorities and issues in association with the SWT project team. A stakeholders directory was agreed with SWT and the survey was e-mailed in early November 2008. Responses were collated and analysed in order to inform the review of the CRI strategy. The individual comments from the interviews and contacts listed in Appendix 1 have been distilled and incorporated in the report under various sections and we acknowledge their valuable input to the study. The key findings and recommendations of the SWT Biodiversity audit were incorporated into the strategy as strategic aims and objectives. Specific targets were included in the Land Use Strategy plan. The boundaries of the study area were reviewed with assistance from the project steering group. In the 1999 report, the study area included land beyond the valley bottom and it extended from the Derbyshire County boundary north of Burton upon Trent to the northern edges of Tamworth. Most of the pressures to change and opportunities for landscape enhancement are concentrated in the valley bottom or river terraces where the gravel reserves are being exploited. The Staffordshire County Council landscape character types define these zones very clearly and it was considered that the study area boundary should conform to the landscape types. The study area was also extended up the valley as far as the Warwickshire boundary through the Tamworth Urban Washlands and as far as Middleton Lakes. In this way, the Central Rivers area is defined by a continuous valley bottom landscape following the Tame and Trent through the County, generally in a north to south direction (Figure 1). Central Rivers Area Strategy Update, December 2008 6 The aims and objectives of the Strategy were reviewed and updated from the 1999 version, with the benefit of the findings of the stakeholder consultation process and data review. A Land Use Strategy Plan was developed to fulfil the objectives, with the various agencies and organisations identified in a table format. Where practical, timescales and priorities were tabled and future funding opportunities identified in discussion with the partners. Central Rivers Area Strategy Update, December 2008 7 Central Rivers Area Strategy Update, December