Natural Woking Biodiversity and Green Infrastructure Strategy Supporting Information Peregrine falcon, Woking (James Sellen) Woking Borough Council, March 2016, www.woking.gov.uk For more information contact [email protected] Natural Woking: Supporting Information Page | 1 Contents Appendix 1 – Green infrastructure categories ....................................................................... 4 Appendix 2 - Benefits of Biodiversity and Green Infrastructure ............................................ 11 Appendix 3 - The Bigger Picture ......................................................................................... 16 Appendix 4 - Baseline ......................................................................................................... 24 Appendix 5 – Completed and Current Improvements .......................................................... 57 Appendix 6 - Glossary and Abbreviations ............................................................................ 64 Appendix 7 – References and Where to find out more ........................................................ 70 Appendix 8 - What you can do ............................................................................................ 82 Appendix 9 - Favourable Conservation Status .................................................................. 117 Appendix 10 - Great Crested Newt.................................................................................... 118 This Supporting Information document provides more detail and guidance to deliver the aims of the Natural Woking Strategy. You can read the Natural Woking Strategy at www.woking.gov.uk/environment/greeninf/naturalwoking Natural Woking: Supporting Information Page | 2 Maps Map 1 Aerial Map of Woking Borough .......................................................................... 25 Map 2 Existing green infrastructure in Woking Borough ............................................... 26 Electoral ward boundaries in Woking Borough from May 2016 ........................................... 35 Map 3 Local Nature Reserves (LNR) in Woking Borough ............................................. 36 Map 4 Existing footpaths and cycle ways in Woking Borough ...................................... 37 Map 5 Existing trees with Tree Preservation Order (TPO) in Woking Borough ............. 38 Map 6 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Woking Borough ............................ 39 Map 7 Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) in Woking Borough ............... 40 Map 8 Special Protection Area (SPA) in Woking Borough ............................................ 41 Map 9 Areas of Common Land in Woking Borough ...................................................... 42 Map 10 Registered Historic Parks and Gardens in Woking Borough .............................. 43 Map 11 Blue infrastructure in Woking Borough .............................................................. 44 Map 12 Ancient woodland and other woodlands in Woking Borough.............................. 45 Map 13 Parks, gardens, outdoor sports and amenity greenspace in Woking Borough ... 46 Map 14 Allotments in Woking Borough ........................................................................... 47 Map 15 Cemeteries and churchyards in Woking Borough .............................................. 48 Map 16 Sites of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) in Woking Borough ................ 49 Map 17 Verges in Woking Borough ................................................................................ 50 Map 18 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) in Woking Borough ................................. 51 Map 19 Broad indication of distribution of new housing in Woking Borough up to 2027 . 52 Map 20 Distribution of Allotments in the Borough and an 800m buffer ........................... 53 Map 21 Distribution of Parks and Outdoor Sports and an 800m buffer ........................... 54 Map 22 Distribution of Play Areas and a 400m buffer ..................................................... 55 Map 23 Distribution of the existing SANGs and their catchment areas ........................... 56 Map 24 Green infrastructure opportunity areas within the Borough .............................. 115 Map 25 Biodiversity opportunity areas within Woking Borough ..................................... 116 Natural Woking: Supporting Information Page | 3 Appendix 1 – Green infrastructure categories This section explains more about the six categories of green infrastructure: Biodiversity – ecology Open Space and Recreation Open countryside - Green Belt Blue infrastructure Food/crop growing Landscape Biodiversity – ecology Four-spotted Chaser (James Sellen) Nowhere in the urban area of the Borough is more than 1 mile from open countryside1. This provides our population with a great opportunity to enjoy and benefit from the use of the Borough’s green spaces for sport, recreation and social interaction and the benefits this can bring to health and well-being. Woking Borough Council has an abundance of leisure and cultural opportunities for residents and visitors to enjoy. Getting out and about and enjoying our local amenities can help contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Woking is a Borough of contrast: from the hustle and bustle of the thriving town centre to the green open spaces of Horsell Common. As well as the diversity of green spaces that the Borough has to offer, Woking Borough’s urban area accounts for some 40% of the Borough, and there are many opportunities to enhance the biodiversity value of the open spaces which fall within this urban area. The relationship between the Town Centre, surrounding villages and the countryside beyond is of crucial importance in determining the quality of life for residents and visitors in the Borough. Connecting people to green and open spaces is a key aspect of this Strategy. The Basingstoke Canal and the Hoe Stream pass through the urban area and bring with them many of the qualities experienced elsewhere in the wider countryside. Trees and woodlands play a key role in enhancing the landscape settlement of much of the built environment and, in common with hedgerows, ponds and watercourses, provide essential habitats for wildlife to exist within the urban area. They can create a rich and varied mosaic of habitats supporting a wide range of biodiversity. Open spaces within the urban area serve a wide range of uses as places for recreation, visual relief to the built environment, biodiversity reserves and corridors for the movement of wildlife from one area of countryside to another. Vegetation, especially trees, also contributes to the quality of the urban environment by buffering against extremes of temperature, providing screening and creating privacy, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and replenishing oxygen. The variety of different land uses found in close proximity can create a rich and varied mosaic of habitats. Green spaces within the urban area including parks, amenity grassland, common land, sports fields and verges can, depending on their structure, management and species present, support a large number of invertebrate and bird species within the town and its suburbs. 1 Cultural Strategy (Woking Borough Council, 2004) Natural Woking: Supporting Information Page | 4 Many sites including the more urban areas of the Hoe Valley, have direct links with sites of high ecological value such as Mayford Meadows and White Rose Lane Local Nature Reserves (LNR) and therefore act as key wildlife corridors enabling the dispersal and migration of many species of flora and fauna and, in so doing, bring wildlife into the town. Trees and gardens within the urban area offer many opportunities for wildlife and the planting of native species can further increase the species richness and diversity of plants and animals supported. The conservation of biodiversity is a key test of sustainable development and a crucial measure of the quality of the local environment is the wildlife which it supports. Unfortunately the world is losing biodiversity at an ever increasing rate as a result of many factors including human activity and changes in climate. If appropriate action is not taken, we will suffer both economic and environmental loss and pass on to future generations a world that is considerably poorer than the one we are privileged to live in today. Alternatively, by working together we can pass onto future generations an environment capable of sustaining a richer variety of habitats and species than is supported at present. Local authorities (councils) have a statutory duty to ensure the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) also places great emphasis on how planning should contribute to the protection and enhancement of the natural environment. The idea is not merely to prevent loss but to enhance biodiversity through the creation of ecological networks. Fragmented and isolated habitats are vulnerable in the long term, if habitats are stranded; there is a risk of them deteriorating or being lost over time. For declining species this could mean a whole population (flora or fauna) being wiped out entirely. Habitat fragmentation is mainly attributed to development and the change of land use over time. Development pressures include housing, employment and grey infrastructure such as roads. Habitats are steadily becoming more detached as pressures continue for new development. The creation of ecological corridors ensures that wildlife populations