Beer Neighbourhood Plan Local Evidence Report November 2014 Contents Topics: page: Natural Environment 3 Maritime and Shoreline 11 Built Environment 14 People and Housing 22 Business and Jobs 27 Transport and Parking 30 Community Facilities and Services 33 Youth, Sports and Recreation 37 Visitors and Tourism 38 Appendix - Planning Applications 2009/14 41 Compiled by: Eric Cozens Geoff Pook Mike Green (with assistance from Paul Weston, Associate, Stuart Todd Associates Ltd) © Beer Parish Council 2014 Topic: Natural Environment Parish Characteristics Beer is an historic fishing village set with in part of the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), World Heritage Coast, and Coastal Preservation Zone with a Conservation Area, several Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). It has a built up ‘villagescape’ set within a mainly rural landscape. Physical The rural landscape is made up of chalk grassland, agricultural fields and copses. There is special interest in chalk grassland (many SACs) and the local geology (last chalk cliffs of any significance going west) The majority of the agricultural land within Beer is owned by one main landowner (CDE1) Natural The landscape is protected by a raft of legislation (relating to the AONB, World Heritage Site, SSSIs, SACs, County Wildlife Sites etc). There are several Sites of Special Scientific Interest, County Wildlife Sites and SACs. Much of the natural environment is contained within the built up area: gardens, both public and private with many trees and hedgerows. Also the Cemetery and Graveyard (which has an orchid management / grass-cutting regime from EDDC agreed with Beer Parish Council after a consultation run at a surgery in the Mariners’ Hall and also a survey available at the Post Office). Recently many fences and other boundary treatments are replacing Devon Banks, natural stonewalls and hedgerows to the detriment of the visual ‘villagescape’ and wildlife. Devon Banks and hedgerows provide living space for birds and small mammals. (Dormice and garden birds in particular according to the Parish Biodiversity Audit for Beer). Natural stonewalls provide habitat for various flora species. (ivy, red valerian, maidenhair spleenwort, mosses, cranes-bill, pellitory-of-the-wall, ivy-leafed toadflax and lichens according to the Parish Biodiversity Audit for Beer). Prehistoric Landscape There is a significant evidence of Neolithic activity with abundant worked flint flakes.2 There is an Early Bronze Age burial mound at Bovey Fir Cross (visible above ground). There are Iron Age banks on Beer Head.3 Historical Landscape There is a Napoleonic gun emplacement on Beer Head4. The remains of a WWII Radar Station on Hooken cliffs are easily visible above ground. 1 CDE = Clinton-Devon Estates 2 The Prehistory of Beer Head – Martin Tingle 3 Archaeological Dig - AONB 4 Archaeological Dig - AONB Beer NP Local Evidence Base 3 Beer Quarry and Caves Special Area of Conservation The Beer Quarry and Caves SAC covers the same area as the Beer Quarry Caves SSSI. “The primary reason for the site being designated an SAC is its use as a hibernation site for the Bechstein’s bat as well as it supporting an important assemblage of other bat species.5” Planning permission to continue both underground and opencast working of chalk on both sides of Quarry Lane was granted in 1948. In 1950 an extension to underground workings was granted between Hollyhead Road and South Down Common. During the 1950s and 1970s there were a number of extensions to the opencast workings at Beer Quarry. Underground workings in the area south of Quarry Lane were granted permission to be opened to the public and land used for the construction of car parks and buildings. The area is now used as a visitor attraction. The value of the quarries was highlighted by the Devon County Minerals Plan in 2004 • “The quarry and underground workings form part of a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) on the basis of bats and their habitat located in the area. The effects of the current and future working on the cSAC are to be assessed by English Nature as part of the designation procedure. If the SAC is designated, the quarrying activities will have to be assessed to investigate whether or not mineral working will have any significant effect on the interests of the SAC. The Habitats Directive requires activities that are significantly detrimental to the interests of the SAC to be discontinued. • The site is close to the Sidmouth to Westbay candidate Special Area of Conservation. • The Mineral Site lies about one kilometre north of part of the Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site. • The site is located in an area classified by the Environment Agency as a major aquifer, and is close to Bovey Lane public water supply boreholes. • Beer Quarry and Caves SSSI is an important geological and wildlife site. The quarry and adjacent Caves are known to house a hibernating population of eight different species of bat. The geological features in the faces of the working quarry show the best examples in Southern England of a suite of clay filled chalk pipes created by solution processes operating on the chalk landscape. The quarry is also a Geological Conservation Review Site because of the Pleistocene stratigraphy. • Need to maintain suitable exposures for geological research and study. • The access route from the quarry is along narrow lanes. • The site contains features of archaeological significance which may be of national importance including prehistoric enclosures, barrows and artefacts and the older underground workings throughout the Mineral Consultation Area. • Need to find suitable conservation measures to maintain and improve the existing bat roosts and investigate the potential for habitat creation during restoration of the quarry. • There is considerable potential to link educational interpretation of the site with that of the nearby Dorset and East Devon Word Heritage site.” The various and varied areas with special designation are described on the following pages. These descriptions come from the Parish Biodiversity Audit for Beer, a report prepared in 2010, commissioned by Devon County Council using data supplied by the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre. 5 Parish Biodiversity Audit for Beer Beer NP Local Evidence Base 4 Beer NP Local Evidence Base 5 Sites of Special Scientific Interest Sidmouth to Beer Coast SSSI covering an area of about 244ha, is an important geological and biological site and is also included within the Sidmouth to West Bay Special Area of Conservation and Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Brief descriptions of these are covered in later text. As the name suggests the Sidmouth to Beer Coast SSSI stretches along the coast from the Sidmouth to Beer, a distance of about 12km. It includes mainly steep south-facing cliffs, rising in to 160m in places, with occasional coastal valleys. The entire coastal fringe of Beer parish is included within the SSSI. Beer Quarry and Caves SSSI covers an area of 31ha and is located in the west of the parish, at the head of the valley west of Beer along which Quarry Lane runs. The quarry is on the northern side of Quarry Lane and the SSSI extends as far as Paizen Lane. Beer Caves lie to the south of Quarry Lane, with the site extending southwards to Mare Lane. The SSSI citation reports the site’s importance for its population of hibernating bats and also for the geological features on the face of the working quarry. The extensive series of caves has been formed by many years of mining for Beer Stone. An unusually wide range of species of bats, eight in total, has been recorded here, including the very rare Bechstein’s bat and also the greater and lesser horseshoe bat. The site being used as a hibernaculum by Bechstein’s bats is the primary reason that the site has also been designated a Special Area of Conservation. Other species present include Brandt’s bat, Daubenton’s bat, Natterer’s bat, brown long-eared bat and whiskered bat. The old tunnels in the actively worked northern part of the site are also used by bats. Beer Quarry also provides one of the best exposures of a suite of clay-filled chalk pipes in southern England (Source: SSSI citation). In February 2010 119 greater horseshoe and 133 lesser horseshoe bats were recorded to be using these caves (personal communication). The area covered by the Beer Quarry and Caves SSSI is also designated a County Wildlife Site. A survey of parts of this CWS was carried out in 1992 and 1993, when it supported areas of unimproved calcareous grassland. A description is given in the County Wildlife Site below. Special Areas of Conservation Sidmouth to West Bay Special Area of Conservation The Sidmouth to West Bay SAC has been designated to protect its rich and diverse vegetated sea cliff habitats. As a result of the varied geology along this stretch of coast there is a wide range of habitat types within the SAC, including pioneer communities colonising new landslip areas, as well as more established areas of woodland, mixed scrub and grassland where conditions are more stable. The resulting mosaic of habitats supports a wide range of plants and animals, especially invertebrates. Within the parish of Beer the Sidmouth to West Bay SAC largely covers the same area as the Sidmouth to Beer Coast SSSI and details of the area’s rich geology and biodiversity can be found in the SSSI section above. Beer Quarry and Caves Special Area of Conservation The Beer Quarry and Caves SAC covers the same area as the Beer Quarry and Caves SSSI. The primary reason for the site being designated an SAC is its use as a hibernation site for the Bechstein’s bat as well as it supporting an important assemblage of other bat species.