www.gov.uk/englandcoastpath Assessment of England Coast Path proposals between Hunstanton and Sutton Bridge On The Wash Special Protection Area and Ramsar site, Greater Wash Special Protection Area and The Wash and North Norfolk Coast Special Area of Conservation November 2020 1 England Coast Path | Hunstanton to Sutton Bridge | Habitats Regulation Assessment Contents: Contents: .................................................................................................................... 2 Summary .................................................................................................................... 4 I) Introduction ......................................................................................................... 4 II) Background ....................................................................................................... 4 III) Our approach .................................................................................................... 5 IV) Aim and objectives for the design of our proposals .......................................... 6 V) Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 6 VI) Implementation ............................................................................................... 10 VII) Thanks .......................................................................................................... 10 PART A: Introduction and information about the England Coast Path ..................... 11 A1. Introduction..................................................................................................... 11 A2. Details of the plan or project ........................................................................... 11 PART B: Information about the European Site(s) which could be affected .............. 14 B1. Brief description of the European Sites(s) and their Qualifying Features .... 14 B2. European Site Conservation Objectives (including supplementary advice) 20 PART C: Screening of the plan or project for appropriate assessment .................... 22 C1. Is the plan or project either directly connected with or necessary to the (conservation) management (of the European Site’s qualifying features)? ........... 22 C2. Is there a likelihood [or risk] of significant [adverse] effects (‘LSE’)? .............. 22 C2.1 Risk of Significant Effects Alone .............................................................. 23 C2.2 Risk of Significant Effects in-combination with the effects from other plans and projects .......................................................................................................... 37 C3. Overall Screening Decision for the Plan/Project ...................................... 38 PART D: Appropriate Assessment and Conclusions on Site Integrity ...................... 39 D1. Scope of Appropriate Assessment ................................................................. 39 D2. Contextual statement on the current status, influences, management and condition of the European Site and those qualifying features affected by the plan or project ............................................................................................................... 42 D3. Assessment of potential adverse effects considering the plan or project ‘alone’ ................................................................................................................... 48 D3.1 Design of the access proposal to address possible risks – at a stretch level 48 D3.2 Design of the access proposal to address possible risks – at a local level .. 51 D3.3 Assessment of potentially adverse effects (taking account of any additional mitigation measures incorporated into the design of the access proposal) alone . 78 D4 Assessment of potentially adverse effects considering the project ‘in- combination’ with other plans and projects ........................................................... 84 D5. Conclusions on Site Integrity .......................................................................... 93 2 England Coast Path | Hunstanton to Sutton Bridge | Habitats Regulation Assessment PART E: Permission decision with respect to European Sites ................................. 94 Certification ........................................................................................................... 94 References to evidence ............................................................................................ 95 Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................... 99 List of tables in this report Table 1. Main wildlife interests ................................................................................. 4 Table 2. Summary of risks and consequent mitigation built in to our proposals....... 7 Table 3. Qualifying features ................................................................................... 17 Table 4. Feature groups ........................................................................................ 23 Table 5. Assessment of likely significant effects alone .......................................... 24 Table 6. Scope of Appropriate Assessment ........................................................... 39 Table 7. Waterbird conservation targets and WeBS alerts .................................... 43 Table 8. Establishment works - mitigation measures ............................................. 49 Table 9. Summary of key locations ........................................................................ 51 Table 11. Summary WeBS sector data covering from South Beach Road, Heacham to Beach Road, Shepherd’s Port .............................................................. 55 Table 12. Summary WeBS data for sectors covering Shepherd’s Port to Wolferton pumping station ........................................................................................................ 60 Table 13. Summary WeBS data for sectors covering new path from Wolferton to South Outmarsh ....................................................................................................... 68 Table 14. Summary WeBS data for sectors covering the Peter Scott Walk ......... 75 Table 15. Residual risk of insignificant impacts from the access proposals ......... 84 Table 16. Review of other live plans and projects ................................................ 85 Table 17. Insignificant and combinable effects from other projects ...................... 90 Table 18. Risk of in-combination effects ............................................................... 91 3 England Coast Path | Hunstanton to Sutton Bridge | Habitats Regulation Assessment Assessment of Coastal Access proposals under regulation 63 of the Habitats Regulations 2017 (as amended) (‘Habitats Regulations Assessment’) Summary I) Introduction This is a record of the Habitats Regulations Assessment (‘HRA’) undertaken by Natural England (in its role of competent authority) in accordance with the assessment and review provisions of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) (‘the Habitats Regulations’). Natural England has a statutory duty under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to improve access to the English coast. This assessment considers the potential impacts of our detailed proposals for coastal access from Hunstanton to Sutton Bridge on the following sites of international importance for wildlife: The Wash Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site, Greater Wash Special Protection Area and The Wash and North Norfolk Coast Special Area of Conservation (SAC). This assessment should be read alongside Natural England’s related Coastal Access Reports which between them fully describe and explain its access proposals for the stretch as a whole. The Overview explains common principles and background and the reports explain how we propose to implement coastal access along each of the constituent lengths within the stretch. Hyperlink to the report II) Background The main wildlife interests for this stretch of coast are summarised in Table 1 (see Table 3 for a full list of qualifying features) Table 1. Main wildlife interests Interest Description Breeding terns 3 species of tern breed within The Wash SPA and Greater Wash SPA area (common tern, little tern, and Sandwich tern) in the spring/summer. They nest in areas of bare ground, sparse vegetation or shingle / sand. Foraging in open water, creeks, and lagoons. Non-breeding The Wash supports internationally important numbers of non-breeding waterbirds waterbirds over winter and during the spring and autumn migration periods. Feeding is pre-dominantly on the extensive inter-tidal areas, but adjacent farmland is used by some species such as pink-footed goose. Roosting is often at the water’s edge on saltmarsh and on lagoons / lakes near The Wash, and on adjacent farmland. 4 England Coast Path | Hunstanton to Sutton Bridge | Habitats Regulation Assessment Saltmarsh, inter- The Wash is the largest embayment in the UK containing the single largest tidal and sub-tidal area of saltmarsh in the UK. There are also extensive areas of inter-tidal mud habitats and sand, sub-tidal sandbanks, shallow water, deep channels and biogenic reefs formed by polychaete worms. Along the coast can be found the priority habitats of coastal sand dunes, coastal vegetated shingle and coastal lagoons. These habitats are highly productive and support large numbers of waterbirds (see above). Wetland The nutrient rich shallow