LAND WEST OF WHITWORTH ROAD, THE RIDGE WEST, ST.LEONARD’S-ON-SEA ECOLOGICAL APPRAISAL REPORT January 2018 Hastings Borough Council The Ash Partnership UK Ltd. Administration Office. BNSS. 39 Christchurch Road. Bournemouth. Dorset. BH1 3NS Contact: 07914-378494. Email: [email protected] or [email protected] www.ashpartnership.co.uk Director: Ashley Leftwich BSc MSc. Company Registration No. 4994495. VAT Registration No. 826549600 LAND WEST OF WHITWORTH ROAD, THE RIDGE WEST, ST.LEONARD’S-ON-SEA ECOLOGICAL APPRAISAL REPORT January 2018 Hastings Borough Council Contents Record This Report has been issued and amended as follows: ______________________________________________________________ Issue Revision Description Date Signed ______________________________________________________________ 1 Final Issue to Client 25.01.18 APL Approved by: A. P. Leftwich Signed: __________________ Position: Director Date: __________________ CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 Desk Study 2.3 Extended Phase I Habitat Survey 2.6 Plant Species 2.9 Protected Species 3. RESULTS 3.1 Desk Study 3.6 Extended Phase I Habitat Survey 3.14 Off-Site Habitats 3.15 Protected Species Surveys 4. EVALUATION 4.3 Nature Conservation Context 4.11 Habitats/Features 4.13 Protected Species 5. CONCLUSIONS TABLES Table 1 – Floral List FIGURES Figure 1 – Phase I Habitat Plan APPENDICES Appendix 1a – Marline Valley Woods SSSI citation Appendix 1b – Maplehurst Wood SSSI citation Appendix 1c – Hollington Valley SNCI citation Appendix 2 – Location of Ancient Woodland PHOTOGRAPHS Land west of Whitworth Road, The Ridge West, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea Ecological Appraisal Report _________________________________________________________________________________ 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Hastings Borough Council has commissioned The Ash Partnership UK Ltd. to provide an ecological appraisal of land to the south-west of Whitworth Road in St Leonard’s-on-Sea, East Sussex, hereafter referred to as the ‘Site’. 1.2 This Site forms part of an area of land known as LRA8 that is designated for employment development (B use classes) within the Development Management Plan (Hastings Borough Council, 2015). LRA8 is to be developed as an extension to the West Ridge employment area and includes a new access road between Whitworth Road and Queensway that is currently under construction. 1.3 Part of the Site currently lies within the construction area for the new access road known as the Queensway Gateway Road, and this forms part of a wider Planning Consent [Ref: HS/FA/14/00832] for a link road between Sedlescombe Road North (A21) and the Queensway. 1.4 This Report sets out the baseline ecology and nature conservation context, establishes the impact of the development proposals and, where appropriate, sets out commensurate mitigation and enhancement in relation to habitats and species. Land west of Whitworth Road, The Ridge West, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea Ecological Appraisal Report _________________________________________________________________________________ 2. METHODOLOGY Desk Study 2.1 No formal Desk Study was undertaken as part of this Report as most of the relevant background information is provided within the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Planning Consent HS/FA/14/00832. 2.2 In addition, the Ordnance Survey, aerial mapping [www.bing.com], Natural England website [www.magic.gov.uk] and British Geological Society website [www.bgs.ac.uk] were all interrogated for relevant information. Extended Phase I Habitat Survey 2.3 The entire Site was subjected to an Extended Phase I Habitat Survey, based on the Handbook for Phase I Habitat Survey – A Technique for Environmental Audit (JNCC, 2003). 2.4 Wherever possible each vegetation type was plotted in relation to logical features such as fences, ditches, field margins, roads or watercourses. 2.5 If appropriate, areas of semi-improved or unimproved habitats would be considered in relation to the National Vegetation Classification (or NVC) system based upon Rodwell (1991 et seq.). Plant Species 2.6 The survey concentrated on macrophytes, with only incidental records being made of bryophytes. The abundance of each species was recorded using the DOMIN Scale, i.e. Dominant, Abundant, Frequent, Occasional and Rare. Where species are localised or patch-forming, the additional term Local was also applied. 2.7 All species were identified using Stace (1997) and guides such as Rich & Jermy (1998), in accordance with the nomenclature of Preston et al. (2003). Their national status was assessed using Preston et al. (2003) and the local status within Hall (1980). 2.8 Certain species were grouped together and the actual species richness therefore slightly under-estimated, while assumptions were also made concerning other species. Those dealt with in this fashion are as follows: • Dandelion Taraxacum officinale agg., Mouse-ear Cerastium fontanum agg., Polygonum aviculare agg., Fat-hen Chenopodium album agg., Bramble Rubus fruticosus agg. and Dog Rose Rosa canina agg. – No attempt was made to identify separate any species within these species aggregates. • Willow/sallows Salix sp(p). – This is such a complex hybridising genus that little attempt has been made to separate other than the most obvious species. Land west of Whitworth Road, The Ridge West, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea Ecological Appraisal Report _________________________________________________________________________________ Protected Species 2.9 The Site was also assessed for its potential to contain protected and/or nationally uncommon species. In particular, attention was given to the more likely species to occur such as Badger Meles meles, Dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius, bats, reptiles, amphibians and breeding birds. Land west of Whitworth Road, The Ridge West, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea Ecological Appraisal Report _________________________________________________________________________________ 3. RESULTS Desk Study Nature Conservation Context 3.1 There are two statutory sites of nature conservation interest within a 2km radius of relevance to the Site, these being: Marline Valley Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) – A 55ha woodland, the majority (40.3ha) also being designated as Marline Wood Local Nature Reserve (LNR) – see Appendix 1a. It lies approximately 650m to the west of the Site at its nearest point, from which it is separated by the width of the Queensway Bypass. • It mostly consists of a Pedunculate Oak-Hornbeam (Silver Birch-Hazel variant) woodland community that is managed under a coppice with standards system. There is also ghyll woodland present, the stream valley including three uncommon Atlantic bryophytes – Fissidens rivularis, Tetrodontium brownianum and Metzgeria furcata. Maplehurst Wood SSSI – A 31ha woodland that lies approximately 500m to the east of the Site, from which it is separated by residential housing and the Ridgeway road – see Appendix 1b. • It mostly consists of a Pedunculate Oak-Hornbeam woodland community and is managed as coppice with standards. There is also a Pedunculate Oak-Ash damp woodland community and Alder woodland. Uncommon plants include Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia, Thin-spiked Wood-sedge Carex strigosa and the uncommon moss Hookeria lucens. 3.2 The Site itself lies within a non-statutory site of nature conservation interest, this being Hollington Valley Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) [Site Ref: Ha14] – see Appendix 1c. • This is a 12ha area of secondary woodland, Ancient Woodland, willow carr and meadows that is centred along the wooded valley of the Hollington Stream. There are various uncommon plants associated with woodland, e.g. Green-flowered Helleborine Epipactis phyllanthes, and with undisturbed grassland, such as Pepper-saxifrage Silaum silaus. Ancient Woodland Context 3.3 There are numerous stands of Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) within a 2km radius of the Site, the most relevant of which is: • Un-named Wood ASNW – A woodland stand approximately 0.21ha in size that lies less than 10m distance to the south-west at its nearest point to the Site. Protected Species Context 3.4 The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the new Queensway Gateway Land west of Whitworth Road, The Ridge West, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea Ecological Appraisal Report _________________________________________________________________________________ Road [Planning Consent HS/FA/14/00832] contains background information on protected species that occur within the surrounding Hollington Valley SNCI immediately north and east of the Site. 3.5 Protected species that were detected within the adjacent land included: • Hazel Dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius – A nest was detected during a nest tube survey and there are also confirmed results for these species on the northern side of the Queensway between 2006 to 2012. • Roosting Bats – Two separate roosts were detected in 2015, each consisting of a single bat, these being Common Pipistrelle Pipistellus pipistrellus and Soprano Pipistrelle P. pygmaeus. • Foraging Bats – As well as Common Pipistrelle and Soprano, an automated 2014 survey also recorded Noctule Nyctalus noctua, a long-eared bat Plecotus cf. auritus and Myosotis sp. • Reptiles – Slow Worm Anguis fragilis and Common Lizard Zootoca vivipara occurred here as ‘good’ and ‘low’ sized populations (based on Froglife, 1999), but these populations have since been translocated. Extended Phase I Habitat Survey 3.6 The walkover survey recorded a total of just 33 plant species during a walkover on 12th January 2018, see Table