Guidelines for the Selection of Biological Heritage Sites
1. Background
1.1
There are presently some 62 statutory Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Lancashire, designated by English Nature and protected under the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). Sixteen of these sites are designated for their geological importance. The remainder represent the "top-tier" of wildlife sites in the County, being of national or, in some cases, European importance. The latter have either been listed as Ramsar sites and/or classified as Special Protection Areas, or else they are in the process of being considered for Special Protection Area or Special Area of Conservation status. However, the conservation of the County's wildlife heritage also demands a strategy which addresses the needs of wildlife in the wider environment. The identification and conservation of a wider network of important wildlife sites is a major element in such a strategy. The importance of non-statutory sites as well as statutory sites is recognised in the Government's Biodiversity Action Plan (Department of the Environment 1994a) and also in its Planning Policy Guidance on nature conservation (Department of the Environment 1994b).
1.2
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust first compiled a list of non-statutory wildlife sites for Lancashire (known latterly as Sites of Biological Importance or SBIs) over 20 years ago. This list was notified to the local authorities and was updated occasionally. Sites were included on the list because they were highly regarded by local naturalists, their recognition sanctioned by Trust Committee, and from 1985 onwards, all inclusions were ratified by a professional ecologist. Up until 1992, however, there had been no systematic survey or evaluation, and site boundaries had not been determined in many cases. In addition, the uneven coverage of the County as a whole had become particularly apparent in recent years. Other lists of wildlife sites have been compiled on a similar basis for specific types of wildlife site, or for smaller areas of the County. Despite the undoubted value of such lists, and the SBI list in particular, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Lancashire County Council, English Nature and other users of these lists have recognised the need to achieve a more objective basis for the inclusion of sites.
1.3
The Landscape and Wildlife Strategy for Lancashire (Lancashire County Council 1990) proposed the identification and conservation of Biological Heritage Sites as part of a County Heritage Site Scheme. This proposal has been adopted and strengthened in the Lancashire Environmental Action Programme (Lancashire County Council 1993). The completion of the Phase 1 Habitat Survey of Lancashire between 1987 and 1992 provided the opportunity to take forward this initiative in a systematic way which addresses some of the deficiencies of the old lists. A working group of officers from Lancashire County Council Planning Department, Lancashire Wildlife Trust and English Nature (North West Region) was accordingly set up to progress the work and produce a definitive and more stable list of non-statutory wildlife sites for the County.
1.4
TheLancashire Structure Plan 1991-2006 Greening the Red Rose County contains policies specifically directed at Biological Heritage Sites.
2. The Purpose of the Guidelines
Relation to Sustainable Development
2.1
The aim of the Biological Heritage Sites selection guidelines is to enable the systematic identification of those sites which, together with the statutory wildlife sites, make the most significant contribution to the biological diversity of Lancashire. Collectively, these statutory and non-statutory sites may be referred to as the County's "critical environmental capital" so far as its biological resources are concerned (English Nature 1994a). Any losses of these sites would be regarded as significant beyond the immediate locality, and would be difficult or impossible to make good for all practical purposes (e.g. because of antiquity, complexity, location or special environmental requirements). The survival and conservation of Biological Heritage Sites is therefore a key indicator of sustainable development in Lancashire.
Objectives
2.2
The working group agreed that the network of Biological Heritage Sites should specifically:
a) include representatives of the full range of habitat-types of nature conservation importance in Lancashire;
b) support habitats or species which are threatened or rare nationally, regionally or in Lancashire and/or cannot readily be recreated or re-introduced;
c) reflect the geographical distribution of habitats and species in Lancashire, including notable isolated pockets of the more localised habitats or species.
3. The Nature of the Guidelines
3.1
The general approach to writing the guidelines is based on that adopted by English Nature for the selection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (Nature Conservancy Council 1989). Much useful background information and guidance on how to interpret and apply guidelines of this type is contained in that publication, to which those interested are referred. However, the guidelines used here apply specifically to Lancashire rather than Great Britain as a whole, and have been kept as simple and as concise as possible. They have been devised by experienced professional ecologists from Lancashire County Council, English Nature and Lancashire Wildlife Trust, assisted by local and national specialists in particular habitat-types and species-groups.
3.2
Sites are eligible for selection if they meet certain minimum standards as set down in the guidelines. The guidelines are divided into two sections: those which deal with the character or quality of the habitat or habitats present, and those that relate to the occurrence of certain species or groups of species.
3.3
It should be noted that all modern approaches to site evaluation for wildlife, including this one, are derived ultimately from a series of basic criteria which were established in the seminal publication A Nature Conservation Review (Ratcliffe 1977). The most important of these criteria include size of site, diversity of habitats and/or species, rarity of habitats and/or species, "naturalness", fragility and "typicalness". They form the basis for the specific habitat and species-related minimum standards used here. Thus Biological Heritage Sites are identified primarily on biological criteria, rather than on planning or community-based considerations.
3.4
Explanatory notes appear under each section heading and/or each guideline explaining firstly, how the guidelines are used in practice ("Application") and secondly, a brief non-technical statement of the biological justification for their inclusion ("Justification").
Limitations imposed by information
3.5
The guidelines are based upon the best information which is presently available about the quality and distribution of habitats and species in Lancashire. They reflect the fact that more information is available on some habitats and species than others, and also that ongoing and new field surveys will continue to enhance the biological resource database and hence the facility with which sites can be assessed. For example, few sites have yet been surveyed using the National Vegetation Classification, which, when more widely applied, will form a useful basis for site evaluation. The guidelines are devised to take account of this transitional situation. However, certain habitats and species groups have so far been the subject of little or no systematic survey so that it is difficult or impossible to formulate meaningful guidelines based upon them. This applies, for example, to some aquatic habitats including seasonal wetlands and their environs, and to many groups of invertebrate animals for which more specific guidelines may be appropriate if and when further information becomes available in the future.
Limitations imposed by site type: excluded sites
3.6
Although Lancashire's biological heritage is largely dependent on the existence of semi-natural areas, some artificial habitats are also important. Certain species depend on habitats which are obviously artificial in character. For example, large tracts of intensively cultivated agricultural land can be important for feeding wildfowl. Although such sites are included within the scheme they differ in character from most other Biological Heritage Sites in that they support little or no semi-natural vegetation: they are treated as a separate sub-category. However, certain types of sites and features have generally been excluded. These include buildings, and usually also operational quarries or tips. Whilst such sites can and do sometimes have significant wildlife interest, it is felt that this may best be addressed in other ways.
Landscape Character Tracts
3.7
Lancashire is far from homogeneous in terms of its landscape character or its wildlife resources. For the purposes of certain of the policies in the Lancashire Structure Plan 1996-2006, the County has been subdivided into 10 "Landscape Character Tracts". These are characterised in the Structure Plan in terms of their geology, topography, landscape quality and land use, and their wildlife habitats: their locations are shown in Appendix 1 to the guidelines. Since Biological Heritage Sites are intended to reflect the biological diversity of the County as a whole (see below and paragraph 2.1 above), it is appropriate to select these meaningful subdivisions of the County to use as the geographical basis for site selection in certain cases. In this way, the best representative examples of each habitat type can be selected in each area of the County where that habitat occurs (see paragraph 2.2c). In some cases, the Landscape Character Tracts have been grouped into three Landscape Zones; north, south and west.
What is Biodiversity?
3.8
Biological diversity - or biodiversity for short - is the variety of living organisms and systems in terms of habitats, species and local genetic diversity. The term is referred to not only in the basic aim of this project but also in several guidelines, usually in the context of a site making "a significant contribution to biodiversity..." either of Lancashire or of one of its component Landscape Character Tracts or Zones. Such assessments are partly based on professional expertise combined with local experience, but are still guided by the same underlying criteria referred to above. For example, a site which has species or habitats which are rare or decreasing in the County, or a site which supports an isolated population of a more frequent species near the edge of its range, would be rated positively here, and more highly than a site which simply adds to the stock of a common and widespread species or habitat. It should be noted that measures to conserve diversity in the County at the habitat or species level may not automatically be adequate to do so at the genetic level. Extra sites may have to be included in order to gain a reasonable probability of achieving the latter.
Habitat mosaics
3.9
In some parts of Lancashire, a significant proportion of the biodiversity appears to be linked to sites which are not outstanding examples of individual habitat-types. Such sites are best referred to as habitat mosaics. They are often a combination of small relict ancient semi-natural habitats, and land in non-intensive agricultural use; they may also include habitats developed since land formerly in agricultural or industrial use was abandoned or no longer fully used. The juxtaposition of different habitats within a single site and the transitions between them are themselves valuable ecological features. Thus the value of a habitat mosaic is generally greater than the sum of the values of its component habitats. Such sites are most common on the fringes of urban areas; those areas, in fact, where lowland semi-natural habitats which satisfy other site selection guidelines tend to be comparatively scarce.
Degraded sites
3.10
These guidelines allow the selection of some sites, which although semi-natural in character, are in a much modified and ecologically degraded state. They may be included because they support rare species (see also paragraph 3.11), or because they are the only surviving examples of a particular type of habitat in certain geographical areas. Examples include severely over-grazed moorland, drained lowland mosslands, heavily grazed woodlands or woodlands on ancient sites which have been extensively restocked with planted trees. Such changes can have profound effects on their species composition and vegetation structure. But they remain essentially semi-natural habitats and possess the potential for regeneration or recovery with sympathetic management. Moreover they still represent habitats which cannot generally be recreated in the short-term on alternative sites which do not support these kinds of habitat.
Species Guidelines
3.11
Sites selected on the basis of the habitats they contain will also support a large part of the County's biodiversity in terms of plant and animal species. However, if the Biological Heritage Site network is to support the full range of species which are of conservation importance in Lancashire, sites must also be selected directly on the basis of particular species or species-groups. At the present time, there are no guidelines for the selection of sites on the basis of marine species.
3.12
The species guidelines are, in the main, applied only to species which occur naturally in Lancashire. These include:
a) species known or believed to be native to Lancashire;
b) species which are native to Great Britain and are established colonists in Lancashire without the benefit of deliberate introduction or assistance;
c)introduced species of special biological, historical or cultural interest (very few species are in this category);
d)species which have been re-introduced as part of a recognised strategy for their conservation, e.g. English Nature's species recovery programme.
Species excluded are those which:
e)are known or believed to have been deliberately introduced into Lancashire and to which neither c) nor d) apply.
f) all colonists which are unlikely to persist in the wild without deliberate human intervention.
3.13
It is now widely recognised that the conservation of species should be based on a consistent hierarchical approach which considers species which are of significance at different geographical levels (see Department of the Environment 1994 and Wynne G. et al. 1995). Thus the species guidelines for Biological Heritage Sites have been devised to identify sites which support species in categories a) to d) in paragraph 3.12 and which are also in one or more of the following categories:
a)internationally or nationally important species which occur in Lancashire.These species are identified in the relevant EC directives, UK legislation and, in some cases, UK Red Data Books or Lists, as noted under each species guideline.
b) "nationally scarce" species which occur in Lancashire (those which occur in 16-100 10km squares in the UK).
c)species which are rare and potentially at risk of extinction in Lancashire (generally those which are known to occur naturally in 3 or fewer localities in Lancashire).
d) i) species which are at risk of becoming rare in Lancashire (those which are known to occur at more than 3 localities but which could move into category c) because of recent rapid decline, very small population sizes, identifiable threats or the fragility of their habitat);
ii) species which are at the edge of their UK geographical range in Lancashire.
3.14
This standard approach to site selection on species grounds has been used wherever possible in the guidelines. However, wide variations from one species-group to another in terms of the quantity and quality of the data available (e.g. far more data is available for birds or flowering plants than for molluscs or lichens) mean that the way the approach is applied in practice also varies. Guidelines for some vertebrate groups (e.g. amphibians, birds), whilst influenced by this basic approach, also make use of the results of other detailed studies and established methods on these groups, and consequently appear in a rather different format.
3.15
The approach recognises that Lancashire should play its part in the conservation of species that are important in the wider geographical context, and also those species which, although not necessarily rare in some other places, are rare in Lancashire. This serves not only to protect the biodiversity of the County but also to maintain the natural ranges of species in the United Kingdom.
3.16
In order to help users, individual species guidelines are followed where feasible by a list of species to which that guideline applies in Lancashire. Although it is hoped that these lists may be a useful contribution towards a species audit for the County, they should not be considered definitive since more is known of the distribution of some species-groups than others, and in any case, a species list for any defined area is not static. Records of species new to the County or of species previously considered extinct will also be eligible if they satisfy the terms of the relevant guideline, and the general criteria in paragraph 3.12 (see also Species Guidelines - Application).
4.Application of the Guidelines
4.1
In general, any area of land or water which satisfies one or more of the guidelines is eligible for inclusion in the list. Sites should generally be evaluated on the basis of reliable information obtained (except where otherwise stated) in the field since 1987 (see also 7. Section 2: Species Guidelines). It should be stressed, however, that the guidelines are not rigid criteria for site selection. For example, a site which marginally failed to meet two or more different guidelines could be considered for inclusion. Evaluation of sites is undertaken with special reference to the guidelines but bearing in mind the wider context outlined in Section 3 above.
4.2
It should be noted that the list of sites generated does not include any statutory National Nature Reserves or Sites of Special Scientific Interest, except for geological SSSI's whose biological interest satisfies these guidelines but does not form any part of the basis of the SSSI notification. However, statutory Local Nature Reserves are eligible for inclusion provided that they meet one or more of the guidelines.
Site boundaries
4.3
Site boundaries are drawn as far as possible to be meaningful in biological terms. Where sites are selected on species guidelines, appropriate regard is given to the habitat requirements of the species concerned. Observable physical boundaries or topographic features have been used wherever appropriate. Boundaries do not include "buffer zones". They may however, include areas which marginally fail to meet any of the guidelines but which lie adjacent to others which do. Consideration may also be given to other areas of lesser value, where the latter form an integral part of the management unit (usually a parcel of land) of which the eligible area forms the greater part.
Stages in the process
4.4
Potential sites - both on existing lists, and newly identified from the Phase 1 Habitat Survey, have been evaluated against these guidelines as follows:
Stage 1
Preliminary site selection and site boundary evaluation by contract officers to produce Initial List (desk study).
Stage 2
Sites on initial list examined and evaluated by the Biological Heritage Sites Working Group (desk study) and categorised:
a) confirmed
b) rejected
c) subject to further survey/information
Stage 3
Category c) sites above subject to:
a) brief site survey to determine whether site satisfies selection guideline(s), or to confirm/determine site boundary;
and/or
b) obtain additional data from local naturalists, documentary sources, etc.
Data for sites in this stage evaluated by the Biological Heritage Sites Working Group and all qualifying sites from Stages 2 and 3 included in the Provisional Summary Listings.
Stage 4
Biological Heritage Sites Working Group agree revisions and listings after wider consultation with interested bodies, and issue Summary Listings and Composite Site Boundary Plans, subject to future updating.
Stage 5
Site record, including Site Information Form and Site Boundary Plan, produced for each site on the Summary Listings.
4.5
The Summary Listings contain a few entries where a species-guideline code relating to a particular site is shown in square brackets. This indicates that one or more species covered by that guideline is present on the site, but the evidence available suggests that the population of the species concerned does not fulfil the requirements on distribution pattern or population size as set out in the guideline. This has been done for purely practical reasons to aid users of the computer-based site data record.
4.6
Because of inadequate information on certain sites, the Summary Listings also contain a few "provisional" sites whose proper evaluation will take place as and when adequate survey information becomes available. Other sites definitely qualify for inclusion in the list on the basis of one or more guidelines and, at the same time, qualify provisionally on the basis of other guidelines. All such provisional entries are shown with a question mark on the lists. It is recommended that provisional sites should be treated in the same way as confirmed Biological Heritage Sites so far as development control procedures are concerned, unless and until it can be demonstrated that the sites concerned do not, or are unlikely to, fulfil the terms of the relevant guideline.
Annual Review
4.7
The Summary Listings, Site Information Forms and Site Boundary Plans continue to be subject to review in order to take account of new information, and as sites change or are lost or damaged. Proposals for changes are normally considered at an annual review meeting of the Biological Heritage Sites Review Panel, whose decisions are contained in an annual schedule of site amendments. Despite these changes, the Summary Listings should be much more stable than has been the case with previous lists of non-statutory sites.
Monitoring
4.8
Wildlife sites are vulnerable to change. Consequently, some form of planned monitoring of sites should ideally be undertaken. Comprehensive regular monitoring of the continued existence of the qualifying habitats and species on all BHS has substantial resource implications. In order to ensure that all BHS are re-surveyed and their interest confirmed regularly, it is suggested that the monitoring process should be geared to a full review, or a review of the relevant sections, of a district-wide local plan. This will help to ensure that local plans are based on up-to-date information as required by sections 11 and 30 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
4.9
The BHS monitoring process will involve the following stages:
Stage 1
Re-survey
a) The presence of the qualifying habitats or species should be checked in the field using an appropriate survey technique undertaken by an appropriately experienced person.
b) The site boundary should be checked using the results of field survey and/or remote sensing techniques.
Stage 2
Assessment
Following Stage 1 a recommendation to confirm, delete or modify the BHS boundary and/or the reasons for its identification, will be considered by the BHS Review Panel either at an Annual Review Meeting or a special meeting convened as part of the local plan review process. Where permission to re-survey a site has been refused then the recommendation should be based upon the best available information.
4.10
To qualify for inclusion within a local plan review the BHS status of a site should ideally have been confirmed, or the site first identified, within the five year period preceding the publication of the deposit edition of the local plan review.
In practice this would usually mean that the presence of the qualifying features of a BHS and its boundary would be checked every five to ten years.
5. Sites of "Local" Interest
5.1
Some sites which are already included on other existing lists of non-statutory wildlife sites in the County do not meet the standards that have been set in these guidelines. The fact that such sites will not be designated Biological Heritage Sites should not preclude their identification as sites of local wildlife interest by conservation bodies, local authorities or others. Whilst these sites should always be of demonstrable nature conservation value, factors such as their value to the local community, in particular, may be important in their identification and management. Sites identified on this basis are also part of a wider strategy for nature conservation, but fulfil a somewhat different role to the Biological Heritage Sites.