Transcript Cotswolds Western Corridor

The Cotswolds Western Corridor
Simon Smith
Project Development Officer
The Inevitable Stern Quote
Conservation efforts will increasingly be required to operate
at the landscape scale with larger contiguous tracts of
land that can better accommodate species movement.
Policies for nature protection should be sufficiently flexible to
allow for species' movement across the landscape, through a
variety of measures to reduce the fragmentation of the
landscape and make the intervening countryside more
permeable to wildlife, for example use of wildlife corridors
or “biodiversity islands”.
Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economics Service and Adviser to the
Government on the economics of climate change and development published his report
on Climate Change on Oct 31st 2006.
How Biodiversity Adapts – Big Sites
Staying Put
The main factor which may allow a species to remain more or
less in its current location despite a changing climate is
considered to be related to whether it can adapt by
occupying a different niche within its current habitat, i.e. a
change of aspect or sward height, etc.
South West Wildlife Trusts
Living Landscapes and Climate Change Adaptation
February 2009.
How Biodiversity Adapts - Connectivity
Shifting
Some species which are closely tied ecologically to climate
will ultimately have no alternative but to move and follow
their climate space. The key factors here are (a) whether
suitable locations exist within a particular species’ future
climate space… and (b) whether there is sufficient
appropriate connectivity within the landscape to allow the
species to make the journey..
South West Wildlife Trusts
Living Landscapes and Climate Change Adaptation
February 2009.
South West Nature Map
Rebuilding Biodiversity/Living Landscapes
SNA’s In the Cotswolds
Landscape Character
A No Brainer
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Linear area with a high density of SNA’s –
it’s what they are for
Retained its semi-natural character. Rich
in unimproved limestone grassland and
ancient woodland, often in a matrix
Scarp dominated by permanent grassland
with high potential for habitat restoration
Focus on grassland scrub and woodland –
in a mosaic benefiting a wide range of spp
North south orientation – benefit in terms
of movement to new climate space
Contains large sites with a variety of
aspects and gradients
Cuts across local and regional government
boundaries
The landform and history of the Cotswolds has combined with new ecological imperatives
driven by climate change to give the Cotswolds Conservation Board and partners the
opportunity to undertake a project of national significance. (Project Description June 2010)
Inaugural Partnership Meeting – 26 May 2010
Present
National Trust, Bath and North East Somerset
Council, Gloucestershire BAP Partnership,
Cotswolds Conservation Board, Gloucestershire
Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Gloucestershire
FWAG, Plantlife, Cheltenham Borough Council,
Gloucester City Council (Joint Core Strategy),
Avon Wildlife Trust, Cotswold District Council
Messages of support
National Farmers Union, Butterfly Conservation,
Cheltenham Borough Council, Forestry
Commission, Woodland Trust, South
Gloucestershire Council, Stroud District Council,
Avon FWAG
Inaugural Partnership Meeting – 26 May 2010
Some of the key findings
• Universal approval for the idea and a partnership project
• Will only work as a genuine partnership project
• Broad approval of the corridor area subject to refinement
• Further links important
South Cotswolds to Mendips
Cotswolds river valleys to Thames Valley
• Fit with finer grain of landscape permeability important
Corridor is the artery – remember the veins & capillaries
Corridor is the motorway – remember A roads to footpaths
• Need to deliver with local communities
• In the longer term need to embed within a local sustainable economy
• 2 primary ways forward were identified
Drawing together and co-ordinating existing activity
Bidding for additional resources to plug the gaps with new activity
Both elements need a mapping exercise in order to progress.
Today
Project Development
• Mapping Group Met 29 July 2010
• 2 Levels of data collection strategic (now) & detailed (field level)
when priorities identified
• Nick Jones student placement at Board compiling data on GIS
• NE offer to convene expert panel looking at “What needs to be done
to improve the adaptive capacity of the principal habitats and species
within the Western Cotswolds Corridor”
• Production of draft management principles document
• Second partnership meeting when mapping group happy with initial
strategic data set & principles document drafted – leading to
cooperative working based on principles and… bids for new activity.
Today
Tomorrow
New Policy Drivers
• Defra discussion document “An invitation to shape the Nature of
England” July 2010 in preparation for a White Paper on the natural
environment
“Thinking big and joining up”
• Sir John Lawton's review
Making Space for Nature