Land at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton, Worcestershire
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
LAND AT STONE ARROW FARM, PEOPLETON, WORCESTERSHIRE Biodiversity Mitigation & Enhancement Plan Report to Mr Carl Powell Project number 2018/110 (B) v1 Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy Lower Smite Farm Smite Hill Hindlip Worcester WR3 8SZ Tel: 01905 754909 www.worcestershirewildlifeconsultancy.org Tel: 01905 754909 May 2019 Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy 2018/110 (B) v1 Land at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton QUALITY ASSURANCE Title: Land at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton, Worcestershire – Biodiversity Mitigation & Enhancement Plan Submitted to: Mr Carl Powell Report number: 2018/110 (B) v1 Date: May 2019 Author: Joshua Evans BSc (Hons) MCIEEM – Senior Consultancy Ecologist Internal reviewer: Edward Leszczynski BSc (Hons) MSc MCIEEM – Consultancy Manager Authorised by: Edward Leszczynski BSc (Hons) MSc MCIEEM – Consultancy Manager Disclaimer: Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. However, the views expressed in this document are those of the Consultancy alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. Nor does the document infer any form of consultation with either Worcestershire Wildlife Trust or any other Wildlife Trust. Document Control: The report shall not be reproduced, except in full, without the written approval of Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy. 2 Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy 2018/110 (B) v1 Land at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 4 1.2 Site Description .......................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Proposed works.......................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Existing Habitat .......................................................................................................... 4 2 Mitigation during construction .................................................................................. 5 3 Habitat Enhancement ................................................................................................ 6 3.1 Rationale .................................................................................................................... 6 3.2 Habitat Creation ......................................................................................................... 7 3.3 Enhancement ............................................................................................................. 8 4 Management ............................................................................................................ 11 4.1 Work Schedule ......................................................................................................... 11 5 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 12 Appendix 1: Site plans ....................................................................................................... 13 Appendix 2: Enhancements ............................................................................................... 16 Appendix 3: Ecological experience .................................................................................... 22 3 Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy 2018/110 (B) v1 Land at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background In March 2019 Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy was commissioned by commissioned by Mr Carl Powell to produce a Biodiversity Mitigation and Enhancement Plan for a development on land at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton, Worcestershire. This followed on from an initial Preliminary Ecological Appraisal undertaken in September 2018 on behalf of the client. As part of the granted planning permission (Worcestershire County Council: Planning ref: 18/000032/CM), Condition 24 required an Ecological Enhancement Plan to be produced to include specification and location of pollinator-friendly and native plantings, new wildlife refuges, nesting bird and bat roosting features, hedgehog hole specifications and a timing program for the above site. In addition, Condition 26 required a planting scheme to include native species, sizes, numbers and densities. This document is intended to discharge Conditions 24 and 26. 1.2 Site Description The site is located in the curtilage of Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton, Worcestershire (NGR SO 93593 49643). The site assessed includes an operational worksite where there is regular vehicular movement from heavy machinery. The site borders the Bow Brook, which is at least 8m down a steep slope and the bank side vegetation, are not to be affected by the proposed works. The habitats on site where the proposed works are be carried out include a pre-existing road, disturbed rough ground and bare soil, ruderal vegetation, a pre-existing trench, and gravel covered hard standing. 1.3 Proposed works Permission had been granted for a proposed small scale waste transfer station and materials recycling facility associated with a skip hire business (part retrospective) at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton, Worcestershire. 1.4 Existing Habitat The main site largely consists of disturbed spoil heaps with scattered areas of tall herb and scrub development on the infrequently disturbed areas, Along the boundaries there are more trees and shrubs. Common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and silver birch (Betula pendula) trees overhang the brick wall that marks the north western edge of the site in addition to butterfly-bush (Buddleia davidii) and bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg.). Outside the office and workshop buildings, at the base of the brick wall, species such as dandelion (Taraxacum agg.), white clover (Trifolium repens), bristly ox- tongue (Picris echioides), prickly sowthistle (Sonchus asper), caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris) and hemlock (Conium maculatum), were found yarrow (Achillea millefolium), field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus), smooth sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus), petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus), creeping 4 Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy 2018/110 (B) v1 Land at Stone Arrow Farm, Peopleton cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans), creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) and oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) were growing on the spoil heaps in the north of the site. Clumps of greater willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) and rosebay willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) were found on the fringes of the site. The railway fence had traveller’s joy (Clematis vitalba) growing on it with common field speedwell (Veronica persica), red clover (Trifolium pratense) and ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata) at the base. 2 Mitigation during construction No direct evidence of any protected species was found during the initial preliminary ecological appraisal by Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy. Otters (Lutra lutra) are known to regularly use the catchment but there are no obvious holts near the proposed development and, it was understood, there will be at least an 8m buffer zone from the proposed works and as such, there are no ecological implications. Therefore, other than nesting birds, the Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy report concluded that there appeared to be no implications for the proposed development but that in the unlikely event that any protected species is discovered on the site during the construction phase then all work should cease immediately and advice should be sought from a suitably qualified and experienced ecologist as soon as possible. The work force should be made aware of this by means of a toolbox talk. It is important to be aware that during the nesting season (usually late February to late August) all nesting birds are protected under Part 1, Section 1 (b) of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) but that outside the nesting period the nesting sites of most common and widespread species are not protected. It is likely that several common and widespread species will nest in the bushes and hedgerows and therefore in order to comply with legislation the removal or destruction of suitable breeding habitat should occur outside the bird breeding season. Should any clearance be undertaken during late February to late August then a suitably qualified ecologist must be engaged prior to commencement in order to check for nesting birds and to advise accordingly on the most appropriate way to proceed. Alternatively, the hedge could be netted off using small mesh plastic netting but please note this practice in recent times has been severely criticised by the general public and could invite negative commentary on the scheme. The length and the ends of the hedge need to be netted to prevent birds creeping inside the net. The bare earth site is of low and limited ecological interest and the hedgerows do not qualify as important under the Hedgerow Regulations 1997 (Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy, 2014). The hedgerows nevertheless provide site diversity, connectivity for birds, invertebrates and small mammals and for this reason should be retained, managed and where possible enhanced as part of the landscaping. Any trees to be retained should have protective fences installed around their root protection zones during construction (including the end landscaping phase) in accordance