Natural England Commissioned Report NECR101 Valuing Ecosystem Services: Case Studies from Lowland England Annex 1 - Saltram Countryside Park (Plymouth Green Infrastructure Delivery Plan): Plymouth First published 15 August 2012 www.naturalengland.org.uk Valuing Ecosystem Services: Case Studies from Lowland England Saltram Countryside Park Preface This report has been commissioned by Natural England under the contract reference number of 23092. The work aims to present how a combined ecosystem services and economic valuation approach can be used to understand the implications of different environmental conservation plans. Guidance from Defra on ecosystem services and value transfer is followed (Defra, 2007, eftec, 2010). The approach is used to assess and, where possible, value the likely changes in ecosystem services resulting from an intervention. The information thus generated can be incorporated into decision-making or support tools such as cost benefit analysis. This information could also inform the way in which the management and conservation projects are designed to maximise the ecosystem service generation. This is one of the six case study reports prepared to illustrate the application of the ecosystem services – economic valuation approach. The work has benefited greatly from the ideas, knowledge, data and critique provided by numerous individuals in Natural England and other organisations. These include: Kathryn Deeney, Stewart Clarke, Julian Harlow, John Hopkins and Ruth Waters. We know that some others have provided advice or data to those who helped us and though we cannot list these people here, our sincere thanks go to them too. And our sincere apologies to anyone inadvertently omitted from the list above. Needless to say, any remaining errors are the fault of the authors alone. Dr Robert Tinch, Adam Dutton, Laurence Mathieu (authors) and Ece Ozdemiroglu (internal reviewer). 24 November 2011 i Contents Preface .................................................................................................................................. i Contents .............................................................................................................................. ii 1. The Decision Context ...................................................................................................... 1 2. The Ecosystem Services and Affected Population ....................................................... 3 2.1 Ecosystem services ................................................................................................ 3 2.2 The affected population .......................................................................................... 7 3. Ecosystem Service Changes.......................................................................................... 8 3.1 Assessing the baseline ........................................................................................... 8 3.2 Qualitative and quantitative assessment of the change ........................................... 8 4. Appropriate Monetary Valuation Evidence .................................................................. 16 5. Monetary Value of Ecosystem Service Changes ........................................................ 23 6. Aggregation ................................................................................................................... 27 7. Sensitivity Analysis ...................................................................................................... 28 8. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 31 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 31 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 32 ii 1 The Decision Context There is currently a masterplan containing a range of projects which will lead to the creation of the Saltram Countryside Park to the east of Plymouth. This case study assesses and values, where possible, the likely changes in ecosystem services resulting from the interventions detailed in the plans for the Saltram Countryside Park. The Saltram project is one of eight forming the Plymouth Green Infrastructure Plan (Council, 2011a). This plan is diverse and the component projects are at different stages of planning. The master delivery plan sets qualitative ambitions for changes including: Flood Reduction; Timber Wood Fuel and Energy Crops; Local Food; Active Lifestyles; Biodiversity and Landscape Connections; and Sustainable Transport. Saltram Countryside Park is the most clearly defined and advanced of the projects, and focusing on this project keeps the analysis more manageable, although even this is composed of 22 distinct proposals under three different headings. The project will range over 640 ha between Plymouth, Plympton and Plymstock (see Figure 1). The area forms a diverse landscape including the historic Saltram Estate with Grade I listed property and English Heritage registered park and garden, a restored landfill site at Chelson Meadow, Hardwick Wood, parts of the Plym Estuary, and privately owned farmland and pony paddocks. The landscape provides a diverse range of habitats including ancient woodland, flower-rich grasslands, mud flats, and a network of hedgerows. A number of businesses, including farms and quarries, operate in the area. Most of the land is owned by National Trust (part let to two farming tenants), by other farming businesses, and by households. Hardwick Wood is owned by the Woodland Trust. The new settlement of Sherford is to be built adjacent to the site on the south-east side, with 5,500 houses. There are also plans to build a settlement at Plymstock Quarry to the south west, with 1,684 houses. But the area is already subject to significant 'people pressure' primarily with visitors to Saltram House taking a short walk round the park. Almost all visitors (98%) drive in and there is a need to provide easier, safer pedestrian and cycle access to give an alternative. Visitors need to be managed in order to protect the more sensitive habitats, and also the farming interests. Around 140ha is under agricultural use, but the new housing which will surround the site increases the risk of uncontrolled access which will discourage tenant farmers. The project therefore aims to encourage local supply chains which might yield higher prices for environmentally sensitive production in order to better support the incumbent farmers. 1 (source: NT, NE & PC 2010) Figure 1: Saltram Countryside Park (marked in green) The development of the Saltram Countryside Park plan is regarded as a key requirement to support sustainable growth and a high quality of life in the area. It is identified as one of the priority projects arising from Plymouth‟s Green Infrastructure. The project managers believe that without this plan, the likelihood is that the Saltram area would be degraded through uncontrolled access and agricultural abandonment, with no formal management, resulting in scrub encroachment and possibly encouraging anti-social or illegal behaviour in the unmanaged area. 2 2. The Ecosystem Services and Affected Population The Saltram Project aims to provide a regionally significant recreational resource on the edge of Plymouth in ways that are sensitive to, and enhance, the area‟s exceptional biodiversity, landscape, historic assets and productive farmland. The strap line for the plan is “Bringing the best of the countryside to the city”. The aim is not, however, to create an urban park, and the majority of the land will continue to be privately owned and managed as „working countryside‟ delivering a wide range of benefits. The plan being considered is a concerted programme of investment delivered by the project partners to improve the recreational and wildlife values of the area and retain the agricultural uses. The alternative is likely to see agricultural abandonment and uncontrolled access from densely populated adjacent areas, detrimental to biodiversity interests, in the absence of visitor management. 2.1 Ecosystem services The management options for the Plan form a substantial package of interventions all contributing to the overall vision. Below, we describe the main aspects of the plan as they relate to the broad ecosystem services (and goods) categories. While most interventions will have impacts across the board, breaking them down in this way help structure the rest of case study. (i) Provisioning services: Linking farming to local consumers and communities Promoting new products from the land, high quality vegetables, salad crops, fruit, honey and other products for local sale. Orchard planting and production. Strong local market for horse hay. Supplying the National Trust restaurant and shop with local produce. Supplying public sector buyers in Plymouth, via the Public Sector Food Procurement Project. Retailing and distributing farm produce direct to the public. One or more farm shops, and/or „box‟ distribution. Community supported agriculture on allotments, in orchards or livestock smallholdings. Potential to restore Chelson Meadow, a former landfill site, to productive pasture once gassing from the methane wells has subsided. Following restoration the pasture will be grazed by a mix of cattle, sheep and horses. This may involve capping and seeding parts of the landfill site not yet restored.