Stuart Beckhurst Senior Scientist (Quality Planning) Exeter (Manley House) South West Region r v - s t c r (1) local environment agency plan FROME & PIDDLE and POOLE HARBOUR & PURBECK CONSULTATION DRAFT NOVEMBER 1999 BLANDFORD FORUM BOURNEMOUTH En v ir o n m e n t Ag e n c y Your views This Consultation Draft is our initial view of the issues; public consultation allows people who live in or use the area to have a say in the development of our plans and work programmes. We welcome your ideas on the future management of this area: Have we identified all the issues and options for solutions? If not we would like to know. Have you any comments on the issues and the proposed actions listed? Are you able to help us in any way to resolve any of the issues highlighted? Please send your views and comments by 29 February 2000, preferably in writing, noting how you heard about the LEAP, to: The LEAP Team Environment Agency Rivers House Sunrise Business Park Higher Shaftesbury Road Blandford Forum Dorset DTI 1 8ST Tel: 01258 456080 Fax: 01 258 455998 Or by e-mail to [email protected] Environment Agency Copyright Waiver This report is intended to be used widely, and may be quoted, copied or reproduced in any way, provided that the extracts are not quoted out of context and that due acknowledgement is given to the Environment Agency. Maps are reproduced from Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale map by the Environment Agency with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number CD 031 77G. Privacy Note The information that you supply in response to this consultation will be processed by the Environment Agency to fulfill its regulatory and monitoring functions. A summary may be made available to the public and the applicant (this will include your name and address) unless you specifically request otherwise, or indicate that your response is confidential. If you would prefer the full content of your response to be made available please indicate this in your response. Individuals have the right to see information we hold about them. We will correct it if it is inaccurate. Published November 1999 Map Map 2 - Landscape and Heritage Designations ® siobsu Crown Crown Copyright River Settlement ■ H i Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty iY//////A Environmentally Sensitive Area V//////A Purbeck Heritage Coast Puddletown Shtrford Rivet DORCHESTER Tadnoll Brook WAREHAM Corf* Corfe Castle ____ Swanaae Kilom eters Crown Copyngh QOSZ Foreword The Environment Agency has been charged by the Government to protect or enhance the environment as a whole, in order to play a part in attaining the objective of sustainable development. Responsibilities include the management of radioactive and other forms of waste, industrial pollution control, advising on proposed development and on the restoration of contaminated land, the management of water - water resources, flood defence, freshwater fisheries, conservation - as well as a number of surveillance responsibilities. Much of this work is undertaken in collaboration with other organisations and partners, although regulatory powers are also available. The Agency plans its future work through Local Environment Agency Plans, LEAPs, based on river catchments. This plan covers the catchments of the rivers Frome and Piddle stretching from Evershot and Milton Abbas in the west and north and down to West Lulworth and Swanage to the south. It includes much of the Borough of Poole and the whole of Poole Harbour. Whether we live in the town or the country, for all those within this area the actions in the plan will affect the quality of our environment, the landscape around our homes and the wildlife which lives there. The Agency is anxious to take on board the views of the people it serves and get it right for all of us. Inevitably, resources are never enough to carry out what we would like to do, so choices will have to be made. What is important to you? This is your opportunity to contribute to the planning process and to respond w ith your concerns and your priorities, please use it. DR JOHN DAY Chairman, South Wessex Area Environment Croup of the Environment Agency FROME & PIDDLE and POOLE HARBOUR & PURBECK CONSULTATION DRAFT Contents Contents 1. Introduction 1 1.1 The Environment Agency 1 1.2 Local Environment Agency Plans 2 1.3 The Area Environment Group 2 1.4 Organisations and their responsibilities in relation to Poole Harbour 2 2. Description of the plan area 4 2.1 Settlements and commerce 4 2.2 Landscape character 5 2.3 Nature Conservation 6 2.4 Land use 7 2.5 Archaeology 7 2.6 Recreation 7 2.7 Geology 8 2.8 Hydrogeology 8 2.9 Rainfall 9 2.10 Groundwater 9 2.11 River flow 9 2.12 Tides 10 3. Issues and proposed actions 11 3.1 Managing our water resources 12 3.2 Managing our freshwater fisheries 17 3.3 Enhancing biodiversity 20 3.4 Conserving the land 29 3.5 Managing waste 30 3.6 Delivering integrated river-basin management 33 3.7 Regulating major industries 47 3.8 Improving air quality 48 3.9 Addressing climate change 49 4. A better environment through partnership 51 4.1 Working with regional government 51 4.2 Working with local planning authorities • 51 4.3 Other management plans 54 4.4 Poole Harbour Steering Group 54 4.5 Poole Harbour Study Group 55 4.6 Shoreline Management Plans 55 4.7 Working with the water industry 55 4.8 Local Agenda 21 56 4.9 Working with farmers 57 4.10 Working with business 57 4.11 Conservation 57 4.12 Development of recreation 57 4.13 Education 57 4.14 Make a Difference environmental improvement projects 58 4.15 Public Registers and access to environmental information 58 5. Appendices 59 5.1 Duties, powers and interests of the Environment Agency 59 5.2 EC Habitats and EC Birds Directive 64 5.3 The setting and maintenance of water quality targets 65 5.4 National Air Quality Strategy 68 6. Glossary 69 7. References 72 FROME & PIDDLE and POOLE HARBOUR & PURBECK CONSULTATION DRAFT 1. Introduction 1.1 The Environment Agency Our vision is: • a better environment in England and Wales for present and future generations Our aims are: • to achieve major and continuous improvements in the quality of air, land and water • to encourage the conservation of natural resources, animals and plants • to make the most of pollution control and river-basin management • to provide effective defence and warning systems to protect people and property against flooding from rivers and the sea • to reduce the amount of waste by encouraging people to re-use and recycle their waste • to improve standards of waste disposal • to manage water resources to achieve the proper balance between the country's needs and the environment • to work with other organisations to reclaim contaminated land • to improve and develop salmon and freshwater fisheries • to conserve and improve river navigation • to tell people about environmental issues by educating and informing • to set priorities and work out solutions that society can afford We will do this by: • being open and consulting others about our work • basing our decisions around sound science and research • valuing and developing our employees • being efficient and businesslike in all we do The Environment Agency has a wide range of duties and powers relating to different aspects of environmental management. These duties are described in more detail in Appendix 5.1. While many of these interests are supported by statutory duties, much of the Agency's work is advisory, with the relevant powers resting with other bodies such as local planning authorities. We are required and guided by Government to use these duties and powers in order to help achieve the objective of sustainable development. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. At the heart of sustainable development is the integration of human needs and the environment within which we live. Indeed the creation of the Agency itself was in part a recognition of the need to take a more integrated and longer-term view of environmental management at a national level. We therefore have to reflect this in the way we work and in the decisions we make. FROME & PIDDLE and POOLE HARBOUR & PURBECK CONSULTATION DRAFT page 1 Introduction Taking a long-term perspective will require us to anticipate risks and encourage precaution, particularly where impacts on the environment may have long-term effects, or when the effects are not reversible. We must also develop our role to educate and inform society as a whole, as well as carrying out our prevention and enforcement activities, in order to ensure continuing protection and enhancement of the environment. Local Environment Agency Plans One of the key outcomes of the United Nations Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 was agreement by governments that, in order to solve global environmental problems, local action is crucial: we must all therefore think globally but act locally. For our part we are committed at the local level to a programme of Local Environment Agency Plans (LEAP) in order to produce a local agenda of integrated action for environmental improvement. LEAPs help us identify, assess and solve local environmental issues related to our functions, taking into account the views of external organisations and the general public.