DURHAM HERITAGE COAST Management Plan 2005-2010 CONTENTS Page Page Chairman’s Introduction CHAPTER SIX .................................... 34 Socio-economic Background CHAPTER ONE .................................. 3 Introduction Overview and Introduction History A short history of the coast's regeneration Background to social and economic conditions Managing the Durham Heritage Coast Demography Vision and Objectives Integrated Coastal Zone Management Economy Plan Purpose Ethnicity and religion Structure of the Management Plan Education Health PART ONE Crime Housing Issues CHAPTER TWO ................................. 12 Policy recommendations Features and Threats – the significance of the Heritage Coast PART TWO CHAPTER THREE Physical Profile ....... 14 Introduction Existing Uses of the Heritage Coast Geological features Colliery waste CHAPTER SEVEN ............................... 39 Beaches Economic Pressure and Impacts Coastal erosion Tourism Beach profile data Issues Accretion Recommendations Mining subsidence Agriculture Future beach behaviour Issues Ecological impacts Recommendations Coastal defence Commercial fishing Issues Issues Policy recommendations Recommendations CHAPTER FOUR Natural Profile .......... 18 CHAPTER EIGHT ............................... 44 Introduction Development Pressures and Impacts Geology Transport Landscape character Issues Biodiversity Recommendations Habitats of the Heritage Coast Dredging On the coast Issues On the beach Recommendations Offshore Built environment Species of the Heritage Coast Urban expansion Birds Issues Invertebrates Recommendations Marine mammals Fish CHAPTER NINE ................................. 48 Significant flora Recreational Pressures and Impacts Issues Introduction Policy recommendations Access and Rights of Way Issues Recommendations CHAPTER FIVE .................................. 31 Water based activities Historical and Cultural Profile Issues Early history Recommendations Roman evidence Scuba diving Medieval Issues Recent industrial past Recommendations War history Angling Maritime history Issues Issues Recommendations Policy Recommendations CHAPTER TEN .................................. 52 Pollution Pressures and impacts Introduction Dog fouling Litter Issues Recommendations Anti-social activities Issues Recommendations Motorcycle use Issues Recommendations Car parking Issues Recommendations Wastewater Issues Recommendations Sewage effluent Issues Recommendations CHAPTER ELEVEN ............................. 59 Educational Resource Introduction Universities Interpretation Issues Recommendations PART THREE CHAPTER TWELVE ............................ 61 Strategic Programme, Resourcing, Monitoring and Review Introduction Strategic programme Resourcing Monitoring and Review Use of Indicators CHAPTER THIRTEEN ......................... 66 Action Plan Strategy 1 – Natural resources Strategy 2 - Cultural and historic resources Strategy 3 – Physical and social regeneration Strategy 4 – Sustainable Tourism Strategy 5 – Education, advocacy and training Strategy 6 - Partnership working PART FOUR Nature conservation designations Glossary Bibliography Management Plan prepared by Heritage Coast Staff Unit for Durham Heritage Coast Partnership. April 2005 Durham County Council Design and Print Services. Production funded by Countryside Agency, Durham County Council, District of Easington and City of Sunderland. All photographs © Countryside Agency/Charlie Hedley. Contact details Durham Heritage Coast Partnership c/o Environment Durham County Council County Hall Durham DH1 5UQ T: 0191 383 3351 E: [email protected] www.durhamheritagecoast.org If you require this information to be summarised in other languages or formats please contact us on 0191 383 3351. 0191 383 3351 0191 383 3351 0191 383 3351 0191 383 3351 0191 383 3351 0191 383 3351 A Vision for DURHAM HERITAGE COAST "Integrated management of Durham Heritage Coast managed by and for local communities, protecting the natural and cultural integrity of the area whilst developing and meeting the area’s social and economic needs." 1 Chairman’s Introduction Councillor Alan Barker As Chairman of Durham Heritage Coast Partnership I am delighted to present the Durham Heritage Coast 2005 Management Plan. This plan builds on the initial work undertaken by the Turning the Tide Project and develops further partnership working and coordination of an integrated approach to coastal management allowing the flexibility of individual communities and agencies to contribute in their own particular way. The Durham Heritage Coast has risen from such difficult beginnings. It is now hard to believe what it once was. We have a responsibility to continue it’s recovery and allow it to reach it’s potential as the most recently defined Heritage Coast in England and Wales. The past two years has seen considerable effort to engage the public and agencies in consultation and to reflect their views in the plan. Strategies and projects are being developed to manage our natural, cultural and historical resources, to promote tourism and leisure pursuits, improve access, education and information about our Heritage Coast. With increasing concern about the coastal and marine heritage not just nationally but throughout the world, it is now paramount that we look at how we manage these critical and important resources for our future. We now know that people and protected areas must work and live together and this is our greatest challenge. The implementation of this plan offers us an opportunity to coordinate our activities and resources in a purposeful way to significantly enhance the quality of life, environment and well being of our coast and its communities. Above all it is about partnerships, between the managing agencies and stakeholders, between coastal communities and between all of us who use and enjoy the wildness and beauty of the coast and sea. Implementing this plan will allow us to begin this process of a more sustainable management of the coast and so securing its future and ours for generations to come. Councillor Alan Barker Chair of Durham Heritage Coast Partnership 2 CHAPTER ONE Overview and Introduction INTRODUCTION Our coasts hold an important and deeply special place in our cultural identity. Heritage Coasts represent the most special, undeveloped coastlines that are managed so that their natural beauty is conserved and where appropriate the accessibility for visitors is improved. Thirty one percent of the coast of England and forty two percent of Wales falls under the Heritage Coast scheme. In England, Heritage Coasts are managed by the relevant local authorities, often through a local management service, in consultation with other local landowners and other relevant agencies such as the Countryside Agency. Many Heritage Coasts are part of a larger Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) or National Park (NP). Durham Heritage Coast is unusual in this respect as it one of the few areas that is not covered by AONB or NP status. This means that the area does not receive the same financial support from central government bodies or share the same level of legal recognition. Increasing the status of Heritage Coasts is critical in securing their future. The Durham Coast is a unique asset. Its value for wildlife, history and local culture is high and through Heritage Coasts in the United Kingdom. Courtesy Countryside Agency careful management is set to increase in future years. Developing the areas own local distinctive character and identity is a critical part of the process. This management plan is a first step in pulling together what we currently know about the coast and securing agreement on how the coast is managed. Sharing a vision and creating the correct Heritage Coasts mechanisms to carry out the necessary actions can achieve this. The involvement of local communities is These special coastlines are managed so that paramount to the success of management on the their natural beauty is conserved and, where coast. There is now a unique opportunity available appropriate, the accessibility for visitors is to begin to achieve the vision of the Partnership for improved. The first Heritage Coast to be the coast's future. defined was the famous white chalk cliffs of Beachy Head in Sussex, the latest the Durham Coast. Now much of our coastline, like the sheer cliffs of Flamborough Head and Bempton, with their huge seabird colonies, is protected as part of our coastal heritage. 3 Durham Heritage Coast R. Wear Sunderland The Durham Heritage Coast is an attractive coastal Key A690 Durham Heritage landscape of magnesian limestone grasslands, cliffs, Coast pebble and sandy beaches stretching between the two main conurbations of Tyne and Wear and Ryhope Potential Phase 2 Teesside. Until recently this was one of the most heavily polluted coastlines in Britain, a legacy from A19 over a hundred years of dumping colliery waste from its six coal mines along the beaches. Seaham North Following the closure of the local coal mines in the 1980s, the 'Turning the Tide' project was Murton Sea implemented, which has seen the successful A19 transformation of the coastline. The removal of the A182 spoil heaps and debris from the beaches and cliff tops, and the conversion of large areas of arable land to magnesian limestone grassland has Easington rejuvenated the coastline. Much of the Coast is of national and international Peterlee A1086 nature conservation importance. In recognition of the considerable improvements in the quality of the coastal landscape