Mansfield District Council Local Plan Habitat Regulations Assessment of the Submitted Local Plan Likely Significant Effects Including Appropriate Assessment Published September 2019 Habitat Regulations Assessment Quality information Prepared by Checked by Verified by Approved by Hannah Corrigan Dr James Riley, Dr Max Wade, Consultant Ecologist Technical Director Technical Director Revision History Revision Revision date Details Authorized Name Position 00 29/07/19 Draft JR James Riley Technical Director Distribution List # Hard Copies PDF Required Association / Company Name Prepared for: Mansfield District Council AECOM Habitat Regulations Assessment Prepared for: Mansfield District Council Prepared by: Hannah Corrigan Consultant Ecologist T: 01256 310 200 AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited Midpoint, Alencon Link Basingstoke Hampshire RG21 7PP United Kingdom T: +44(0)1256 310200 aecom.com © 2019 AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited. All Rights Reserved. This document has been prepared by AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited (“AECOM”) for sole use of our client (the “Client”) in accordance with generally accepted consultancy principles, the budget for fees and the terms of reference agreed between AECOM and the Client. Any information provided by third parties and referred to herein has not been checked or verified by AECOM, unless otherwise expressly stated in the document. No third party may rely upon this document without the prior and express written agreement of AECOM. Prepared for: Mansfield District Council AECOM Habitat Regulations Assessment of Submitted Local Plan 2019 Mansfield District Council Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................... …….……………….4 1.1. The purpose of this document ............................................................................ 4 1.2. Background ........................................................................................................ 5 1.3. HRA and the Mansfield District Council Local Plan ............................................ 7 2. European Site considered...................................................................................... 9 2.2. Location and Setting .......................................................................................... 9 2.3. Characteristics, Conservation Objectives and Site Vulnerability ........................ 9 3. Possible Potential Sherwood Special Protection Area (ppSPA) ...................... 14 3.1. Location and Setting ........................................................................................ 14 3.2. Characteristics, Conservation Objectives and Site Vulnerability ...................... 15 3.3. Regulation 10 of the Habitats Regulations (2017, as amended) ...................... 16 4. Method and Approach .......................................................................................... 17 4.1. Background ...................................................................................................... 17 4.2. Identifying Sites for Assessment and Specific Vulnerabilities .......................... 20 4.3. Key Issues that Could Affect Site Integrity ....................................................... 20 4.4. Consultation ..................................................................................................... 21 4.5. Screening Stage ............................................................................................... 21 4.6. Appropriate Assessment .................................................................................. 25 4.7. Limitations and Uncertainties ........................................................................... 25 5. Determination of Likely Significant Effects ........................................................ 27 6. Appropriate Assessment………………………………………………………………29 6.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..29 6.2. Air Quality......................................................................................................... 29 6.3. Pressures from Recreation and Tourism .......................................................... 38 6.4. Water Abstraction ............................................................................................. 52 6.5. Urbanisation ..................................................................................................... 54 6.6. Fragmentation of nightjar and woodlark habitat ............................................... 64 7. Overall Conclusion ............................................................................................... 68 7.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………68 7.2. Birklands & Bilhaugh SAC ................................................................................ 68 7.3. Sherwood ppSPA ............................................................................................. 69 7.4. Future-proofing for Sherwood .......................................................................... 71 Appendix A: Natural England Advice Regarding Sherwood ppSPA ...................... 72 Appendix B: Supporting Maps ................................................................................... 77 Appendix C. Likely Significant Effects and a summary of the Appropriate Assessment results .................................................................................................... 81 Appendix D: Issues of relevance for maintaining site integrity ............................ 106 Appendix E: Visitor Survey/Consultation Summary .............................................. 109 Appendix F: References Used (but not cited in document text) ........................... 112 Prepared for Mansfield District Council by AECOM 2 Habitat Regulations Assessment of Submitted Local Plan 2019 Mansfield District Council List of Tables Table 1-1 Summary of the HRA Process ............................................................................. 7 Table 2-1 Birklands and Bilhaugh SAC Site Characteristics ........................................... 10 Table 2-2 Birklands & Bilhaugh SAC Site Vulnerabilities and Conservation Objectives 12 Table 3-1 Sherwood ppSPA probable interest features and conservation objectives 15 Table 4-1 Initial Screening Categorisation ......................................................................... 23 Table 6-1 Sections of existing road that lie within 200m of Sherwood ppSPA ............ 34 Table 6-2 High-level summary of the key parts of the 2010 Mansfield Citizen’s Panel Survey relevant to Sherwood Forest ....................................................................................... 39 Table 6-3 Permitted housing sites within 400m of the ppSPA in Mansfield district ..... 56 Table 6-4 Employment Sites Allocated in the Mansfield Local Plan and located within 400m of the ppSPA .................................................................................................................... 61 List of Figures Figure 4-1 Stages of the HRA process for marine plans in England (adapted from Scottish Natural Heritage, 2015) .............................................................................................. 18 Prepared for Mansfield District Council by AECOM 3 Habitat Regulations Assessment of Submitted Local Plan 2019 Mansfield District Council 1. Introduction 1.1. The purpose of this document 1.1.1. Mansfield District Council submitted its Local Plan (2013-2033) to the Secretary of State in December 2018. As part of this work, consideration was given to whether the plan may result in a likely significant effect on sites of European importance for nature conservation, otherwise known as the Natura 2000 network. The nearest and most relevant Natura 2000 site that was assessed is the Birklands and Bilhaugh Special Area of Conservation (see Section 2). This work also assessed impacts on habitat within the wider Sherwood area supporting European protected birds (nightjar and woodlark), know colloquially as the Sherwood possible potential Special Protection Area (ppSPA). Even though this area is not currently a designated or formally proposed SPA (and therefore is not covered by Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive), it was included for purposes of good environmental practice and future- proofing (see Section 3); this is in line with advice provided by Natural England in a letter dated 28 June 2010 updated July 2011, September 2012, and March 2014) and contained in Appendix A. 1.1.2. Potential impacts have been identified and assessed through a process informally called a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), triggered by Articles 6 (3) and 6 (4) of the European Community Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora, which is implemented in England and Wales through the Regulations 105 -109 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended). This has been an iterative process as part of the creation of the emerging local plan through its many stages (see Section 4). 1.1.3. During the course of the Examination of the Local Plan (14th May to 24th May 2019), the Planning Inspector requested that the sections of the report concerning Sherwood ppSPA were restructured to create an appropriate assessment, in order to comply with the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Case C-323/17, People Over Wind and Sweetman v Coillte Teoranta. In that judgment the court ruled that measures intended to avoid or reduce harm on a European site (colloquially