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Black Country Urban Park Barometer

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Black Country Urban Park Barometer

April 2013 DRAFT WORK IN PROGRESS

Welcome to the Black Country Urban Park Barometer. Transformation of

the Environmental Infrastructure is one of the key to drivers identified in the

Black Country Strategy for Growth and Competitiveness. The full report

looks at the six themes created under the ‘Urban Park’ theme and provides a

spatial picture of that theme accompanied with the key assets and opportunities for that theme.

Foreword to be provided by Roger Lawrence

The Strategic Context

Quality of the Black Country environment is one of the four primary objectives of the Black Country Vision that has driven the preparation of the Black Country Strategy for Growth and Competitiveness through the Black Country Study process. The environment is critical to the health and well-being of future residents, workers and visitors to the Black Country. It is also both a major contributor to, and measure

of, wider goals for sustainable development and living as well as being

significantly important to the economy of the region. The importance and the desire for transforming the Black Country environment has been reinforced through the evidence gathering and analysis of the Black Country Study process as both an aspiration in its own right and as a necessity to achieve economic prosperity. Evidence from the Economic and Housing Studies concluded

that ‘the creation of new environments will be crucial for attracting investment from high value-added firms’ and similarly that ‘a high quality healthy environment is a

priority for ‘knowledge workers’. The Economic Strategy puts ‘Environmental Transformation’ alongside Education & Skills as the fundamental driver to

achieve Black Country economic renaissance and prosperity for its people.

Through the Black Country Study process two critical conclusions were reached:
1.

2.
The Black Country is rich in both its natural and built heritage and environmental assets – including its canals, geology, wildlife and open spaces - but that too many of these assets are ‘hidden’, inaccessible or not celebrated by both residents and visitors alike.

The emergence of the concept of the ‘Black Country as Urban Park’

as a set of ‘principles’ to guide the transformation and a new image of the Black Country and as a ‘programme’ of action to improve the built

and open space environment, aiming to establish the Black Country as a national exemplar for sustainable urban living.

Today many people are unaware of the sub-region’s environmental assets – natural, built and historic. The perception of the Black Country remains one of heavy industry. From the road and the train the image is often one of a poor quality natural and built environment characterised by old, unattractive and disused industrial buildings and

2

land. In contrast, when viewed from the air, the Black Country scene is predominantly ‘green’ – one of trees and open spaces. It is this image that the aspirations of the

Black Country Vision wish to see brought more to the fore and those ‘green’ assets

enhanced and accessed for the benefit of local people and visitors. Some of the key Black Country assets are set out in the following table:

Black Country Key Assets

Topography characterised by hills & valleys, rising to a high point of almost 1,000 feet, the watershed between the Trent and Severn river catchment systems.



213 kms of rivers and streams. A diverse geology shaping its landscape and pattern of settlement, as its mineral wealth drove the first phase of industrialisation. Dudley has 200 recorded geological sites



Its geology is of significant international interest – notably for its 400 million year old Silurian fossils with its 600 species of marine invertebrate, including 63 fossils recorded nowhere else in the world.

Surviving relics of earlier natural landscapes, together with postindustrial landscape, support a rich network of wildlife sites and corridors - with almost 4,500 ha of designated Nature Reserves and local wildlife sites in over 600 locations and 39sqkms of wildlife corridors



Wrens Nest, in the heart of the Black Country, the first urban national nature reserve to be designated, celebrated its 50th birthday in 2006.

177 kilometres of canals with 63 locks & 3 tunnels - the transport infrastructure which underpinned the areas economic success.

Other significant elements of industrial heritage, such as Avery Building in Smethwick (the first bespoke factory building in the world, incorporating the Soho Foundry of Boulton and Watt, the first manufactory of steam engines)



A network of town and village centres with strong local community allegiances and historic associations with specialist trades, such as chains in Netherton, locks in Willenhall, springs in West Bromwich –

part of the ‘unique character’ and urban form of the Black Country.

The Black Country is home to 1195 listed buildings, 80 conservation areas, 11 registered parks and gardens, 24 scheduled ancient monuments as well as a wealth of other historic buildings, areas and archaeological sites.

A large proportion of the Black Country is ‘green’ with 10 registered

parks & gardens and 17 Site of specific Scientific Interest (SSIs).

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This report presents each of the six ‘layers’ within the Urban park in order to

understand their spatial representation and what assets and opportunities each brings to the Black Country. Some of the key attributes and examples of the spatial layering are presented below:

  • Urban Park Layers:
  • Contents:

1. Above, Below and
Beyond



Above relates to the Black Country communities and the

concept of the Black Country as an endless village.

Below relates to the infrastructure underneath the ground. The Black Country has a diverse geology shaping its landscape and pattern of settlement, as its mineral wealth drove the first phase of industrialisation. Wrens Nest is one of most notable geological locations in the UK and the first geological NNR to be declared. There are 4,500 ha of designated Nature Reserves and local wildlife sites in over 600 locations and 39sqkms of wildlife corridors.

Beyond links to the concepts of beacons and vistas and areas home to assets of world class distinction, for example Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton.

2. Blue Infrastructure 3. Green Infrastructure

The Black Country canals are at the heart of the UK canal network. The Black Country has one of the highest densities of canals in the UK. There are 177km (110 miles) of Canals in the Black Country with 63 locks & 3 tunnels - the transport infrastructure that underpinned the areas economic success. There are also 213 kilometres of rivers and streams.



800,000 people will live within a 15 minute walk of this accessible natural green space. The Black Country is currently bidding for funding to designate the area as a Nature

Improvement Area will bring many opportunities.

4. Built and Historic
Environment

The Black Country is home to over 1,000 listed buildings that can be found amongst the many settlements forming a network

that is the Black Country; with it’s distinctive character such as the number of buildings that are associated with the area’s

development over the 20th Century. There has also been significant recent investment (over £1.6bn since 2006) into the landscape (the 4 strategic centres in particular).

5. Visitor Economy

The Black Country has a diverse industrial heritage and unique identity. Some of the Black Country's well known attractions include: The Black Country Living Museum, Dudley Zoological Gardens and Dudley Canal Tunnel and Limestone Mines; Wolverhampton Racecourse; New Art Gallery, Walsall and

Merry Hill, one of Europe’s premier shopping centres with over

200 shops under one roof.

4

6. Sports Infrastructure

There is a wide range of built sporting facilities across the Black Country totalling 318 venues covering athletics tracks, health & fitness suites, indoor tennis facilities, sports halls, swimming pools and synthetic turf pitches.

Cross Cutting Opportunities
1. NIA
Contents:

The Birmingham & Black Country Nature Improvement Area is a partnership of over 50 organisations that have come together to deliver significant improvements to the natural environment

  • of
  • Birmingham,
  • Dudley,
  • Sandwell,
  • Walsall
  • and

  • Wolverhampton.
  • The Nature Improvement Area is the

culmination of decades of working towards our vision of an urban landscape permeated by a network of high quality greenspace which is rich in wildlife and enjoyed by the people who live and work here. It represents a step-change away from site-focused nature conservation to a more ambitious and joined-up landscape-scale approach.

The Key Objectives of the Nature Improvement Area are:

Bigger – to increase the amount of wildlife habitat in the landscape Better – to enhance the value of existing habitats across the landscape More – to increase the number of sites with wildlife value across the landscape

Joined – to target action on ecological corridors and stepping stones

People – to connect communities with their landscape and its



wildlife

The partnership has identified a number of Delivery Themes which prioritise the types of projects that will be undertaken in this first phase (2012 – 2015) of the Nature Improvement Area. These have been informed by the partnership’s collective understanding of the Birmingham and Black Country landscape, its ecology and its needs. The

Delivery Themes are Woodland, Grassland, Heathland, Corridors, Geology and Community Engagement. These

priorities enable each partner to maximise their contribution to landscape-scale change by ensuring their projects form part of larger and linked actions which are

5being rolled-out across Birmingham & the Black Country.

2. Geopark

Information to be added by Graham Worton

3. Waterframe Directive

The Water Framework Directive is EU legislation driving improvements to inland and coastal waters across the European community. It is the most substantial piece of EU water legislation to date and requires all inland and coastal waters to be of good ecological status. River Basin Plans have been produced across the EU which have set demanding environmental objectives. The Black Country is part of the River Tame, Anker and Mease catchment which falls under the Humber Basin Management Plan. The plans will contribute towards the improvement of green infrastructure in the Black Country by improving the extensive network of river and canal corridors.

4. Local Sustainability
Transport Framework

5. Black Country Urban
Forest

6. Economic Value of
Ecosystems

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Urban Park Layers

1. Above, Below and Beyond

This layer comprises of 3 elements - Above which relates to the Black Country communities, Below which relates to the infrastructure underneath the ground and Beyond which links to the concepts of beacons and vistas.

1.1. Above

(a) An Endless Community
Assets

The Black Country as a region is growing at a steady rate (6% the same as the West Midlands) that equates to an extra 61,660 people from 2001 to 2011. The Black Country now has 1,139,800 residents.

There is a network of 353 town and village centres with strong local community allegiances and historic associations with specialist trades, such as chains in Netherton, locks in Willenhall, springs in West Bromwich – form part of the ‘unique

character’ and urban form of the Black Country. The list of these communities is set

out in Appendix Table 1 and the transformation of these communities is set out in the graphic below:

7

The graphic above illustrates how landuse has dramatically changed over a period of 160 years. In 1840 fields (light green) largely dominated the landscape whereas by the year 2000, land used for industry (brown) and housing (orange) are the two main landuse classes.

An example of how the landscape changed is detailed below for a small localised area; Netherton in Dudley.

Case Study - Netherton Character Area
Source: The Black Country Historical Landscape
Characterisation Report

This is generally a residential part of modern Dudley, although also encompassing recreational and wooded areas, together with industry straddling the canal in its south. The eastern boundary of the area borders similar residential areas of Sandwell (the canal also continues into Old Hill Character Area SD04), while the western boundary is formed by the change to a more industrial area alongside the canals and dual-carriageway.

GEOLOGY & TOPOGRAPHY

This area lies over sandstone, mudstone and conglomerate and, in general, over shallow coal. The high ground in its north-east is dolerite. From this point, which is at more than 200m elevation, the land falls by around 100m over the Character

Area’s length, reaching its low point at its southern limit.

MODERN CHARACTER:

Despite being skirted in the north west by the dual carriageway of the Dudley Southern by-pass (1999), this area is largely made up of quieter residential streets, with the only A road through the area (Cinder Hill/Halesowen Road) running southwest from Dudley town centre - the route being one of the oldest through the area. On the high ground in the north, the housing is in many cases a legacy of the southern expansion of Dudley and, in the north-west in particular mid-to-late Victorian terraces and villas survive. Much of the remainder of the north comprises large areas of inter-war semi-detached housing survive from the 20th century suburbanisation of Dudley. In the south, housing is of perhaps more mixed origins, although it includes some

large developments of semidetached properties from the 1950s. The area’s central

band also includes significant post-war terraced housing dating from the 1960s and 70s. Recreational & wooded areas include the playing fields of Netherton and Warren’s Hall Parks, together with local nature reserves such as the large area of Saltwells Wood in the south west corner of the Character Area. The principle industrial area is in the south-east of the area, at the core of which is the Washington Centre, a group of mixed use industrial units on the north bank of the Dudley canal.

8

HISTORIC CHARACTER

In the pre-industrial period the southern half of this area formed part of the large common of Pensnett Chase, while the northern section included the open fields which were part of the agricultural hinterland of the settlements of Netherton and Dudley (the latter being centred immediately to the north-west of the Character Area).

Most of what is now the Character Area’s boundary with Sandwell (i.e. its eastern

edge) was also the line of Mousesweet Brook, a tributary of the River Stour running to the south. Important changes took place in the 18th century when Pensnett Chase was enclosed, and mining was known to have developed in several parts of the area. This included the area which is now Saltwell’s Nature Reserve (in the south-west corner of the area), for example.

By the end of the 1830s, a canal was opened across the area linking the pre-existing canals between River Severn and north of the Black Country (in the west) and that already running to the centre of Birmingham (in the east). By this time, most of the area between the route of the canal in the south and the centre of Dudley in the north was dominated by areas of mining. Tramways were used to transport coal and other products to the new canal. Dudley and Netherton, among other local settlements, grew to service these extractive industries. Later, further 19th century improvements in transport brought the railways in the form of the Great Western Railway Windmill End branch line, which crossed the area and linked it with the rest of the rail network at both Dudley and Old Hill. Another branch provided a goods station in the southcentral part of the area, next to the then Netherton Works, producing chains and anchors (now the location of the Washington Centre). South of the canal, a network of private mineral railways also provided access to the main rail network in the west.

  • Modern Land Use
  • Period of Origin

© Crown copyright. All rights reserved 100019537 2008

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Opportunities

Distinctly Black Country http://distinctlyblackcountry.org.uk/

NIA: Community Engagement – involving people

Birmingham & the Black Country has a population of over 2 million people, and it is key to the success of the Nature Improvement Area that there is widespread public awareness, engagement and involvement in the work of the partnership. Resources are therefore being invested in securing community benefit and in maximising nature improvement gain through the engagement of individual volunteers and local groups.

Well over 200 friends’ groups are engaged with open spaces across Birmingham &

the Black Country, and clearly there is an opportunity to involve these with the delivery of Nature Improvement Area projects. There are also countless other opportunities for activities which involve the general public and a wide range of groups who are not already engaged with their local open spaces - including social care organisations, schools, housing associations and many others.

The focus of the Community Engagement Delivery Theme is simply providing opportunities for awareness-raising and the involvement of people with all aspects of the Nature Improvement Area.

10

The map above shows that the Black Country is made up of numerous towns and villagesto give the sense of a large continuous community. Around 353 localised areas have been identified and are represented by a ring on the map.

11

(b) Topography

The map above shows the geology that makes up the Black Country and Birmingham.

12

This map shows the contrasting topography in the Black Country showing land

elevation. The Rowley Hills make up the high points with Turner’s Hill (254.8 meters)

and Sedgley Beacon (2324.1 meters) with the lowest areas being in the South Western part of the Black Country around Stourbridge.

13

Assets



The Black Country Topography is characterised by hills & valleys, rising to a high point of almost 1,000 feet, the watershed between the Trent and Severn river catchment systems. The Hawthorns is the highest football ground above sea level in Great Britain.

As a large conurbation straddling the watershed between the Severn and Humber catchments, the Black Country is a unique landscape. While most cities stand astride large, often navigable river, the Black Country rivers rise as small, fast tributaries in the, still largely green and open, hills merging into the Stour, Tame and Smestow

Brook. Rich in natural resources of coal, iron and limestone industry’s demands for

communications meant that this lack of navigable waterways led to the construction of many canals, placing the Black Country at the heart of this first national network – later supplemented by the construction of the railways and roads, including the M5 and M6. The detailed local complexity of landform and geology was the seed for development of very local industry, with each town specialising in products such as glass, leather or chainmaking.

The end result is a landscape formed by the fusion of these small settlements with natural open spaces scattered in between and other, more recent, greenspaces on

abandoned industrial sites that have ‘tumbled down’ to nature over the past century.

This chequer pattern is very different from neighbouring Birmingham where the open space is concentrated in long chains along the floodplains of its wider, slower rivers. There are some other distinctive features of this varied but largely urban landscape.

Most noticeable are the aforementioned hills, giving viewpoints across the area Sedgely Beacon, Barr Beacon and the Rowley Hills are well known landmarks, often with areas of particularly high value of wildlife. On the limestone in the south are many rich and divers ancient woodlands, contrasting strongly with the open heathlands in the north, such as Brownhills Common. This is a landscape as varied and surprising as the many trades and communities that have flourished and developed here.

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  • Advisory Visit Smestow Brook, Wolverhampton July 2019

    Advisory Visit Smestow Brook, Wolverhampton July 2019

    Advisory Visit Smestow Brook, Wolverhampton July 2019 1.0 Introduction This report is the output of a site visit undertaken by Tim Jacklin of the Wild Trout Trust to the Smestow Brook, Wolverhampton on 29th July, 2019. Comments in this report are based on observations on the day of the site visit and discussions with Tarun Ingvorsen (Salmon in the Stour Project Officer) and Natalie Norton (Site Manager, Smestow Valley LNR) of Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust (BBCWT). Normal convention is applied throughout the report with respect to bank identification, i.e. the banks are designated left hand bank (LHB) or right hand bank (RHB) whilst looking downstream. 2.0 Catchment Overview The Smestow Brook is a tributary of the River Stour in the catchment of the River Severn. The Brook rises in the city of Wolverhampton and flows south, generally parallel to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, for approximately 12 miles to join the Stour near Stourton. The industrial history of the region has left its mark on the River Stour and its tributaries both through physical modification of the channel and pollution. The Stour catchment is the focus of the ‘Salmon in the Stour’ project led by BBCWT in partnership with the Environment Agency (EA), Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Severn Rivers Trust (www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/salmoninthestour). The upper catchment of the Smestow Brook is located in an urbanised area and is designated as a heavily modified waterbody under the Water Framework Directive (Table 1), and has an overall ecological potential of moderate. It is currently rated as failing for the specific pollutants nickel and its compounds and tributyltin compounds.
  • Proposed Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark

    Proposed Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark

    Great things to see and do in the Proposed Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark Project The layers lying above these are grey muddy Welcome to the world-class rocks that contain seams of ironstone, fireclay heritage which is the Black and coal with lots of fossils of plants and insects. These rocks tell us of a time some 310 million Country years ago (called the Carboniferous Period, The Black Country is an amazing place with a named after the carbon in the coal) when the captivating history spanning hundreds of Black Country was covered in huge steamy millions of years. This is a geological and cultural rainforests. undiscovered treasure of the UK, located at the Sitting on top of those we find reddish sandy heart of the country. It is just 30 minutes from rocks containing ancient sand dunes and Birmingham International Airport and 10 minutes pebbly river beds. This tells us that the landscape by train from the city of Birmingham. dried out to become a scorching desolate The Black Country is where many essential desert (this happened about 250 million years aspects of the Industrial Revolution began. It ago and lasted through the Permian and Triassic was the world’s first large scale industrial time periods). landscape where anything could be made, The final chapter in the making of our landscape earning it the nick-name the ‘workshop of the is often called the’ Ice Age’. It spans the last 2.6 world’ during the Industrial Revolution. This million years of our history when vast ice sheets short guidebook introduces some of the sites scraped across the surface of the area, leaving and features that are great things to see and a landscaped sculpted by ice and carved into places to explore across many parts of The the hills and valleys we see today.
  • Lantern Slides Illustrating Zoology, Botany, Geology, Astronomy

    Lantern Slides Illustrating Zoology, Botany, Geology, Astronomy

    CATALOGUES ISSUED! A—Microscope Slides. B—Microscopes and Accessories. C—Collecting Apparatus D—Models, Specimens and Diagrams— Botanical, Zoological, Geological. E—Lantfrn Slides (Chiefly Natural History). F—Optical Lanterns and Accessories. S—Chemicals, Stains and Reagents. T—Physical and Chemical Apparatus (Id Preparation). U—Photographic Apparatus and Materials. FLATTERS & GARNETT Ltd. 309 OXFORD ROAD - MANCHESTER Fourth Edition November, 1924 This Catalogue cancels all previous issues LANTERN SLIDES illustrating Zoology Birds, Insects and Plants Botany in Nature Geology Plant Associations Astronomy Protective Resemblance Textile Fibres Pond Life and Sea and Shore Life Machinery Prepared by FLATTERS k GARNETT, LTD Telephone : 309 Oxford Road CITY 6533 {opposite the University) Telegrams : ” “ Slides, Manchester MANCHESTER Hours of Business: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays 1 o’clock Other times by appointment CATALOGUE “E” 1924. Cancelling all Previous Issues Note to Fourth Edition. In presenting this New Edition we wish to point out to our clients that our entire collection of Negatives has been re-arranged and we have removed from the Catalogue such slides as appeared to be redundant, and also those for which there is little demand. Several new Sections have been added, and, in many cases, old photographs have been replaced by better ones. STOCK SLIDES. Although we hold large stocks of plain slides it frequently happens during the busy Season that particular slides desired have to be made after receipt of the order. Good notice should, therefore, be given. TONED SLIDES.—Most stock slides may be had toned an artistic shade of brown at an extra cost of 6d.
  • A Short History of the Dudley & Midland

    A Short History of the Dudley & Midland

    A Short History of the Dudley & Midland Geological Societies A Cutler Summary The history and development of the Dudley Geological Societies is traced with the aid of published transactions and other manuscript material. Both Societies established geological museums in Dudley, the surviving collections of which are now in the care of the Local Authority. Introduction It is not common knowledge that a geological society existed in the Black Country during the nineteenth century and probably even less so that there were two societies at different periods, which shared similar titles. That these societies existed at all should come as no surprise. The nineteenth century was a period of great scientific advancement and popular interest in all sciences was high. The period too was one of great industrial activity particularly in the Black Country and geological problems of a very practical nature relating to mining served to make the societies ideal forums for all interested parties. They were both typical nineteenth century scientific societies and possessed many essentially amateur members. But their contribution to Black Country geology was certainly not amateur and has proved to be of lasting value. The Original Society The original or first society (even referred to as the parent society in later references) was formed in 1841 and quickly attracted a most impressive total of 150 subscribing members. Lord Ward accepted the office of President and some thirty local industrialists, geologists and Members of Parliament became Vice- Presidents. The list of patrons included no less than thirteen peers of the realm, three Lord Bishops and Sir Robert Peel who is perhaps more well known for his association with the first constabularies.