Natural Areas in the North West Region helping to set the regional agenda for nature Introduction egional strategies and policy The conservation of nature is a key local and national priorities for nature documents are being drawn test of policy in all three facets of into the Regional decision-making R up by the newly-created sustainable development, the social, framework. It contains information of Regional organisations. These are the economic and the environmental. direct relevance to the development required to encompass the protection While its role in the environment is of Regional Planning Guidance and and management of the environment self evident, it also has social Single Programming Documents to by applying the principles of implications through the spiritual, support the delivery of European sustainable development. cultural and recreational value of Union Structural Funding, people’s experience of the natural regeneration funding and other This document has been produced world; and economic implications economic and social programmes. by English Nature, the Government through the provision of exploitable body that promotes the conservation resources and the attractiveness to The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries of wildlife and natural features investors of high quality and Food, the Environment Agency, throughout England. It is for use by environments. the country forestry organisations, the Regional Development Agency, local authorities and statutory and the Government Regional Office If we are serious about achieving other agencies involved in land use and the Regional Chambers, when sustainable development, then and land management issues will also making Regional policy. We hope understanding the priorities for the find it relevant and, we hope, of value. that it will provide a starting point conservation of the biodiversity and for discussion with our network of Earth heritage resource of the Region We envisage that this document can Regional Lead Teams, who can is therefore essential. This report is a therefore be used at a number of key provide valuable support, and links first step towards that understanding, points within the Regional strategy- into wider partnerships. and provides the basis for integrating making and planning process. Lake District fells. J. Riggall/English Nature North West Region Introduction 3 Natural Areas as a Regional framework for nature English Nature has divided England into a series of Natural Areas. Their boundaries are based on the distribution of wildlife and natural features and the land use patterns and human history of each area. They do not follow administrative boundaries but relate instead to variations in the character of the landscape. They reflect our cultural heritage and are central to English Nature’s organisational strategy Beyond 2000. We worked with the Countryside Commission (soon to become the Countryside Agency) to identify a joint approach to the characterisation of the countryside into locally distinctive units called character areas. Where the wildlife and natural features are similar between adjacent character areas we have merged them into one Natural Area - so, a Natural Area may contain several character areas that are considered to be different landscape types. Natural Areas offer a more effective framework for the planning and achievement of nature conservation objectives than do administrative boundaries. Although they are not formal Wildlife fun day. George Barker/English Nature designations they are now recognised in Government Planning Policy Guidance Relevant Government Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) (PPG) and other statutory advice. PPG 7: The Countryside: environmental quality and economic and Within this framework, we have, with social development our key partners in the Region, PPG 9: Nature Conservation identified the chief threats to, and PPG 11: Regional Planning Guidance opportunities for, nature conservation. PPG 12: Development Plans and Regional Planning Guidance Together, we have defined a range of (presently under review) issues, and set associated objectives PPG 13: Transport that we believe provide a starting point for Regional action to protect and Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions Policy Guidance: Policy manage our biodiversity and geological appraisal and the environment (DETR, 1998). assets. These objectives are set out in the sections which follow. North West Region Introduction 4 Objectives for sustainable Regional boundary development and 2 Border nature conservation in Uplands the North West Region 120 Solway 3 Solway Firth Basin 4North 9 Eden Pennines The North West is a region of Valley 11 West Cumbria dramatic, and often sharp, contrasts Coastal Plain 10 Cumbria and is associated with a strong sense Fells and Dales of identity and community. Dense 119 Cumbrian Coast 12 Forest of populations can be found in and Bowland around the major conurbations, particularly in the south of the 118 Morecambe 13 Lancashire Plain Bay Region. These are traditionally and Valleys linked to the coal, engineering, wool 117 Liverpool and cotton industries, whilst coastal Bay 14 Southern Pennines resorts such as Blackpool have an international reputation as tourist 26 Urban Mersey destinations. Basin Agriculture is the dominant land use 27 Meres and throughout the North West and Mosses underpins the rural economy. The diverse landscapes, from the big skies Natural Areas covered in the North West Region report of the arable farming which dominates the southern lowlands to rock, soil and climate have set the Sustainable development requires the open, sandy northern coasts and scene, but the detail has been, and integration, rather than balance or rough grasslands of the uplands, will continue to be, shaped through trade off. Decision makers need to support a characteristic combination human activity which is driven by build environmental and social of wildlife and geological heritage. economic, social, and environmental criteria into the heart of their policies The Region includes a number of forces. and programmes - and ensure that dramatic landscapes, such as the they are given the same weight as Lake District and the Forest of Our ability to exploit the economic considerations at the Bowland, that have a distinct natural environment for economic gain is beginning of the process. This is character and an outstanding beginning to jeopardise our present what is meant by integration, and diversity of habitats and species that and future well-being. Since our contrasts with the more familiar are very rare, and of very high decisions can have far-reaching situation, where proposals are drawn quality, of which the Region can be effects on present and future up against economic criteria alone justifiably proud. The natural beauty generations, we need to look at how and are only weighed against their of the Region, in particular the Lake we can act to maintain and improve environmental impact when they are District National Park, provides the both our local and global about to be implemented. mainstay of a significant rural environments. There is no doubt tourism industry. that work at the Regional level can The basic means for many of the be a powerful force in steering local Regional level structures and The distribution of wildlife and the agendas for environmental action, organisations to act will be through texture of the landscape are the whilst providing strong links to the planning process for built product of complex interactions. national and international development and infrastructure. The basic physical qualities of the programmes. Planners have a key role in North West Region Introduction 5 incorporating economic, with nature. They are also important natural habitats that remain are often environmental and social factors into reservoirs of biodiversity. small and isolated and are adversely decisions about where to put homes, affected by agricultural practices and jobs, shops and leisure facilities. In Another essential role will be played pressure from development, including this way, demands on land, the by those charged with the design and the use of pesticides and fertilisers, environment and nature can be implementation of policy and run-off of pollutants from industrial managed more sustainably. Regional programmes for forestry, agriculture, and housing estates, and the lowering Planning Guidance will be written to water and recreation. Farming is the of water tables through drainage and help with this process. North West Region’s major land use. abstraction. Similar pressures of The habitats described in the agricultural intensification, notably Current government policy following chapters are predominantly overgrazing, inappropriate burning encourages investment in urban areas part of agricultural management regimes and a move from traditional and existing centres rather than out of systems. Farmland therefore grassland management, apply to the town sites. This means re-using provides a major source of wildlife of the uplands. previously developed urban land as opportunity for habitat creation much as possible, while ensuring that and maintenance, and species The populations of birds, mammals the quality of towns or cities is protection and enhancement. and plants which rely on the maintained or improved. The Its importance is reflected in the agricultural systems themselves have challenge will be to determine which issues and objectives that are also plummeted. Major priorities patterns and locations