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Natural Areas in the North East Region

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Natural Areas in the North East Region Natural Areas in the North East Region helping to set the regional agenda for nature Introduction egional strategies and policy The conservation of nature is a key local and national priorities for nature documents are being drawn test of policy in all three facets of into the Regional decision-making R up by the newly-created sustainable development, the social, framework. It contains information of Regional organisations. These are the economic and the environmental. direct relevance to the development required to encompass the protection While its role in the environment is of Regional Planning Guidance and and management of the environment self evident, it also has social Single Programming Documents to by applying the principles of implications through the spiritual, support the delivery of European sustainable development. cultural and recreational value of Union Structural Funding, people’s experience of the natural regeneration funding and other This document has been produced world; and economic implications economic and social programmes. by English Nature, the Government through the provision of exploitable body that promotes the conservation resources and the attractiveness to The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries of wildlife and natural features investors of high quality and Food, the Environment Agency, throughout England. It is for use by environments. the country forestry organisations, the Regional Development Agency, local authorities and statutory and the Government Regional Office If we are serious about achieving other agencies involved in land use and the Regional Chambers, when sustainable development, then and land management issues will also making Regional policy. We hope understanding the priorities for the find it relevant and, we hope, of value. that it will provide a starting point conservation of the biodiversity and for discussion with our network of Earth heritage resource of the Region We envisage that this document can Regional Lead Teams, who can is therefore essential. This report is a therefore be used at a number of key provide valuable support, and links first step towards that understanding, points within the Regional strategy- into wider partnerships. and provides the basis for integrating making and planning process. Lindisfarne NNR, Northumberland. Peter Wakely/English Nature North East Region Introduction 3 Natural Areas as a Regional framework for nature English Nature has divided England into a series of Natural Areas. Their boundaries are based on the distribution of wildlife and natural features and the land use patterns and human history of each area. They do not follow administrative boundaries but relate instead to variations in the character of the landscape. They reflect our cultural heritage and are central to English Nature’s organisational strategy Beyond 2000. We worked with the Countryside Commission (soon to become the Countryside Agency) to identify a joint approach to the characterisation of the countryside into locally distinctive units called character areas. Where the wildlife and natural features are similar between adjacent character areas we have merged them into one Natural Area - so, a Natural Area may contain several character areas that are considered to be different landscape types. Natural Areas offer a more effective framework for the planning and achievement of nature conservation objectives than do administrative Sugar limestone on Upper Teesdale NNR, County Durham. Peter Wakely/English Nature boundaries. Although they are not formal designations they are now recognised in Government Planning Policy Guidance Relevant Government Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) (PPG) and other statutory advice. PPG 7: The Countryside: environmental quality and economic and Within this framework, we have, with social development our key partners in the Region, PPG 9: Nature Conservation identified the chief threats to, and PPG 11: Regional Planning Guidance opportunities for, nature conservation. PPG 12: Development Plans and Regional Planning Guidance Together, we have defined a range of (presently under review) issues, and set associated objectives PPG 13: Transport that we believe provide a starting point for Regional action to protect and Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions Policy Guidance: Policy manage our biodiversity and geological appraisal and the environment (DETR, 1998). assets. These objectives are set out in the sections which follow. North East Region Introduction 4 Objectives for sustainable Regional boundary development and nature conservation in 1 North Northumberland the North East Region Coastal Plain The North East Region is 2 Border 98 Northumberland traditionally associated with coal, Uplands Coast ship building, iron and steel and other heavy industries, and a strong sense of community identity. 4 North 99 Tyne to Tees Coast Agriculture is the dominant land use Pennines 6 Durham Magnesian and is the mainstay of the rural Limestone Plateau economy. It is known as a Region of dramatic and rugged coastal and upland landscapes that support a characteristic combination of wildlife and geological heritage. Areas like 5 Northumbria Upper Teesdale have a remarkable 7 Tees Coal Measures Lowlands diversity of high quality habitats, and some rare species, of which the Region can be justifiably proud. The North East has some of the wildest countryside in England. Natural Areas covered in the North East Region report This wilderness and natural beauty can be a powerful force in steering organisations to act will be through supports a significant tourism local agendas for environmental the planning process for built industry. action, whilst providing strong links development and infrastructure. to national and international Planners have a key role in The distribution of wildlife and the programmes. incorporating economic, texture of the landscape are the environmental and social factors into product of complex interactions. Sustainable development requires decisions about where to put homes, The basic physical qualities of the integration, rather than balance or jobs, shops and leisure facilities. In rock, soil and climate have set the trade off. Decision makers need to this way, demands on land, the scene, but the detail has been, and build environmental and social environment and nature can be will continue to be, shaped through criteria into the heart of their managed more sustainably. human activity which is driven by policies and programmes - and Regional Planning Guidance will be economic, social, and environmental ensure that they are given the same written to help with this process. forces. weight as economic considerations at the beginning of the process. Current government policy Our ability to exploit the environment This is what is meant by integration, encourages investment in urban for economic gain is beginning to and contrasts with the more familiar areas and existing centres rather jeopardise our present and future situation, where proposals are drawn than out of town sites. This means well-being. Since our decisions can up against economic criteria alone re-using previously developed urban have far-reaching effects on present and are only weighed against their land as much as possible, while and future generations, we need to environmental impact when they are ensuring that the quality of towns or look at how we can act to maintain about to be implemented. cities is maintained or improved. and improve both our local and The challenge will be to determine global environments. There is no The basic means for many of the which patterns and locations of doubt that work at the Regional level Regional level structures and development prove most sustainable. North East Region Introduction 5 Conserving and enhancing nature creation and maintenance, and industrial and housing estates, and can be compatible with development species protection and the lowering of water tables through and, whilst the built environment has enhancement. Its importance is drainage and abstraction. Similar fewer designated sites, Local Nature reflected in the issues and pressures of agricultural Reserves, pocket parks, green space objectives that are listed at the intensification, notably overgrazing, and even private gardens, are the start of each section. inappropriate burning regimes and a only contact the majority of people move from traditional grassland have with nature. They are also The intensification of agriculture, management, are applied to the important reservoirs of biodiversity. and associated decline in traditional wildlife of the uplands. land management, combined with Another essential role will be played the huge growth of the major towns The populations of birds, mammals by those charged with the design and and cities, has resulted in the and plants which rely on the implementation of policy and reclamation and loss of much of the agricultural systems themselves have programmes for forestry, agriculture, lowland semi-natural habitat of also plummeted. Major priorities water and recreation. Farming is the value to wildlife in the North East therefore include: the sensitive North East Region’s major land use. Region. The semi-natural habitats management of existing habitats; The habitats described in the that remain are often small and increasing the area of existing following chapters are isolated and are adversely affected habitats and re-establishing the links predominantly part of agricultural by agricultural practices and between them;
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