Guidelines for the Selection of Biological Heritage Sites

Contents

Foreword

These Guidelines are really two documents in one.  Firstly, they provide a systematic basis for the identification of key non-statutory wildlife sites in Lancashire.  Secondly, they include an initial audit of habitats and species of nature conservation importance in Lancashire, within the 1974-1998 County boundary.

The Biological Heritage Sites identified using the Guidelines are now an established input into statutory development plans in Lancashire.  They are also an important factor of which due account is taken when decisions are made about planning applications.  Just as important, they are the basis for increasing proactive conservation by public, private and voluntary sector interests - including landowners and land managers.

Biodiversity is a key part of our environment, and its conservation is a key indicator of sustainable development.  Close collaboration between officers of the County Council, English Nature and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust has resulted in this publication - a pioneer in its field.  It will provide a sound basis for measuring just how successful we are at conserving biodiversity in the years to come and I commend it to you.

GRAEME BELL

County Planning Officer

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the following who have generously assisted in the preparation of these guidelines, or in the provision of biological information on which they are based:

Ecology Unit, Central Area, North West Region, Environment Agency (freshwater habitats and species); Dr. Jeremy Biggs and Penny Williams of Pond Action (ponds); Dr. André Farrar, Sean Reed and Dr. Tim Melling of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (birds); Dr. Nick Hodgetts (non-vascular plants), Dr. David Stroud (birds) and Martin Wigginton (mosses and liverworts, flowering plants and ferns) of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee; Eric Greenwood, Phyllis Abbott and Peter Gateley, Vice-County Recorders for the Botanical Society of the British Isles (flowering plants and ferns); Simon Hayhow of the Lancashire County Museums Service (invertebrates);  Eric Davis, Peter Hornby and Ken Spencer of the East Lancashire Ornithologists' Club; Charlie Liggett (birds and bats) and Louise Wisniewski (bats) of the Merseyside and West Lancs Bat Group; Roy Rhodes of North West Water (birds); Dr. Bill Bailey of the University of Manchester (molluscs); Professor Mark Seaward of the British Lichen Society (lichens); Dr. Janet Edmunds, Professor Malcolm Edmunds, Margaret Evans, Robin Grayson (amphibians, mammals), Steve Garland (invertebrates), Dr. Jennifer Newton (habitats, flowering plants and ferns, invertebrates), Dr. Philip Smith (birds), Gordon Stead, Tony Cooper (birds) and Steve White (birds), of the Conservation Committee of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust; and also to Dr. Bruce Ing (fungi), Tony Duckles (birds), Dr. Mike Gosling (lichens), Pat Livermore (fungi), Derek McCullagh (ponds), and Steve Martin (birds).  We are also grateful to David Tyldesley of David Tyldesley Associates for commenting on these guidelines from a planning point of view.

Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Wildlife Trust would also like to acknowledge the particular contributions of Jon Hickling of English Nature (North West) and Alistair Crowle of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and formerly of English Nature (North West). English Nature have also supplied most of the illustrations.  We also wish to thank the numerous naturalists and recorders who have freely provided additional biological information on individual sites.

Geoffrey Morries

Peter Jepson

Nik Bruce