Decision details
Maidstone Local Bio Diversity Action Plan
Decision Maker: Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services (Cttee)
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: Yes
Purpose:
To consider the adoption of the Maidstone Local Biodiversity Action Plan.
Decision:
That the Maidstone Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) be adopted and Maidstone’s Biodiversity Projects Plan, as set out below, be instigated.
Reasons for the decision:
Biodiversity (Biological Diversity) describes the amazing richness and variety of life around us. Biodiversity refers to diversity between and within ecosystems and habitats, the variety of different species and also to genetic variation within individual species. The intricate network of ecosystems, habitats and species comprising biodiversity provides the support systems that sustain human existence. It is the most important indicator of the state of our environment.
Maidstone borough is rich in biodiversity
and contains 10% of the county broadleaved, mixed and yew woodland
representing 12% of the borough’s land cover. Maidstone’s landscapes
have influenced and shaped local culture. Maidstone borough is made up
of characteristic areas defined by differences in rock type,
topography, soils, slope and drainage, which in turn resulted in a
great variety of habitats. Most of
Maidstone falls in to the North Downs, Wealden Greensand and the
Low Weald landscape natural areas. In both rural
and urban areas wildlife makes an important contribution to the
quality of life. Biodiversity
conservation is central to maintain a healthy countryside and
townscape.
The past ten years have seen significant
changes relating to the environment particularly in terms of
planning policy, legislation, and practical action and the need to
balance social, economic and environmental aspirations. This Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
provides the opportunity to review current activities and issues,
identify aims and set specific objectives and targets for action by
a wide range of internal and external partners. It provides a much-needed overarching strategy for
everyone involved in safeguarding and enhancing Maidstone’s
natural environment.
The
Biodiversity Framework
The National Response: In 1992 Biodiversity became a global agenda when 150 governments signed the Convention on Biological Diversity at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It called for national strategies and action plans to be created and enforced which would conserve, protect and enhance biological diversity and was the first time a legal framework was applied to biodiversity.
In 1994 the ‘UK Biodiversity Action Plan’ (UK BAP) was launched, endorsing a multi-organisational approach to biodiversity conservation with an agreed set of targets and objectives. The overall goal of the UK BAP is to conserve and enhance biological diversity within the UK and to contribute to the conservation of global biodiversity through all appropriate mechanisms.
The UK BAP main objectives are:-
1. To conserve and enhance:
§ The overall populations and natural ranges of native species and the quality and range of wildlife habitats;
§ Internationally important habitats and species;
§ Habitats and species (natural and managed) that are characteristic of local areas;
§
Natural and semi-natural areas that have declined in
recent years.
2.
To increase public awareness of, and involvement in,
conserving biodiversity.
3. To contribute to the conservation of biodiversity on a European and global scale.
The following principles apply to the national UK action plan and are also applicable at a local level:
· The sustainable use of biological resources;
· The cautious use of non-renewable resources;
· The promotion of a multi-agency approach to biodiversity conservation,including individuals and communities and not just government led. This is being championed through Local Biodiversity Action Plans;
· Biological conservation should be based upon a sound knowledge base;
· The conservation of biodiversity should be integrated within government programmes, policy and action
· Decisions should be guided by the precautionary principle, that is, where decisions are complex or insufficient knowledge or information exists to understand biodiversity impact, then precautionary conservation measures are necessary.
Following the publication of
‘Biodiversity: the UK Action
Plan’, the UK Biodiversity SteeringGroup was established to
advise the government on how to fulfil its commitment todelivering
the Plan.
In 1995 ‘Biodiversity: the UK Steering Group
Report – meeting theRio challenge’ was produced, which
set out how to achieve this through the LocalBiodiversity Action
Plan process. The most recent list of
priority species and habitats was produced in 2007 and
contains 1149 species and 65
habitats. The
Steering Group also set up guidelines, with the LocalAuthority
Association and the Local Government Board that could be used at a
locallevel. Maidstone Local
Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) is one of 152 Local
BiodiversityAction Plans in England.
The Regional Response:
The Maidstone borough forms part of the
County of Kent in the South-East region. The Kent Biodiversity Partnership support
biodiversity conservation via the Kent Biodiversity Action Plan
(Kent BAP). The Kent Biodiversity
Partnership forms part of the larger South-East England
Biodiversity Forum (SEEBF).
The South-East Biodiversity Strategy targets and
strategic biodiversity opportunity map and the Kent BAP targets and
actions are currently under revision, however through consultation
the Maidstone LBAP will contribute towards these in a local context
hierarchy linking into county, regional and national action
plans.
In 2003 the Kent Biodiversity Partnership released an audit of the distribution of UK priority habitats in Kent. This audit contributed to the Kent BAP and listed 28 priority habitats of importance to the County, of which 27 were of UK priority importance.
Eight
Local performance Indicators have been developed to examine
Biodiversity with respect to Local Authority actions by the
National Audit Office and the Development and Improvement
Agency. The Maidstone LBAP would
improve on four of these local performance
indicators.
Maidstone LBAP
This strategy and action plan for
biodiversity allows the council to be strategic in determining
where to apply its own resources in delivery. The development of the Maidstone’s
Biodiversity Project Plan is a leading and novel approach at local
authority level, in that it clearly defines a programme of projects
that cover a range of work including research, monitoring, protocol
development and capital one-off site projects. These projects show how the Council will lead and
be directly involved in protecting and enhancing the
borough’s biodiversity and raising awareness of the issues.
Maidstone’s Biodiversity Projects Plan clearly describes the
localness of our approach as a governing body in the biodiversity
framework highlighting our innovative approach to delivering better
services to local people
The complete LBAP comprises of the following sections:
I. Background and Introduction
II. HAP 2: Lowland and Dry Acid Grassland and Heath
III. HAP 3: Lowland Meadows
IV. HAP 4: Lowland Beach and Yew Woodland
V. HAP 5: Wet Woodlands
VI. HAP 6: Lowland Wood Pasture and Parkland
VII. HAP 7: Lowland Mixed Deciduous Woodland
VIII. HAP 8: Traditional Orchards
IX. HAP 10: Ponds
X. HAP 11: Rivers
XI. HAP 12: Urban Green Space
XII. Biodiversity Projects
A copy of the complete LBAP document is on the Parks Pages of the MBC website (http://www.maidstone.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces.aspx )
The
Maidstone LBAP has been produced jointly by Maidstone Borough
Council Parks and Leisure Section and Medway Valley Countryside
Partnership (MVCP). MVCP are partly funded by Maidstone Borough
Council and provide expertise and project management in
biodiversity and environmental projects. As MVCP possess the relevant expertise and
experience it is proposed that they continue to manage the LBAP and
also implement the Biodiversity Projects on behalf of the Council.
Much of the work carried out will be through volunteers, these are currently recruited locally by
MVCP. There will be opportunities for local residents to get
involved with the management and maintenance of their local
wildlife sites.
The
mapping used in the LBAP showing Local Wildlife Sites was produced
in 2008 and consequently some sites are not shown. Kent Wildlife
Trust are currently updating this series
of maps and these will be added to the LBAP once
available.
The
production and implementation of a LBAP was an objective of the
Green Spaces Strategy 2005, and as such £15,000 was kept in
reserve from the Capital budget to enable the implementation of the
LBAP and Biodiversity Projects. It is
proposed that this money is used by MVCP to not only carry out the
projects but also to attract additional funding. A number of other longer term projects are
identified in the LBAP and if additional funding could be found in
the future these projects would also be initiated.
The
table below identifies the projects that the £15,000 MBC
funding will be used to implement.
Projects identified in 2010 have already been completed and funded
from existing budgets.
As well
as identifying how available funding with partnership funding will
be used to implement projects in the borough, the table also shows
how other projects such as the Mote Park Regeneration Project are
contributing towards reaching Biodiversity targets.
Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (COSC) along with
the Parks and Leisure Manager Jason
Taylor and myself, discussed the Bio Diversity Action Plan
following its inclusion in the Forward Plan (May to August 2011) on
12th July 2011. To enable
any feedback received from COSC to be included in the LBAP the
decision to adopt the Action Plan was delayed until
now. The following recommendations came
from COSC:
·
The Maidstone Local Biodiversity Action Plan should
be adopted; and
· The work and achievements of the Medway Valley Countryside Partnership should be promoted in the Borough Update.
Project |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
Total |
MBC Funding |
|
|
|
|
|
Weavering Heath |
|
|
|
|
|
TAVR Nature Area |
£500 |
|
|
|
£500 |
Dove Hill Woods |
|
|
|
|
|
Ponds Project |
£3,000 |
|
|
|
£3,000 |
Biodiversity Monitoring |
£500 |
£500 |
£500 |
£500 |
£2,000 |
Communication Plan |
|
|
|
|
|
Bird Feeder scheme |
|
|
|
|
|
Insect Box scheme |
|
|
|
|
|
Events and MBC staff volunteer days |
|
£750 |
£750 |
£750 |
£2,250 |
Whatman Park Lowland Meadow Area |
£500 |
£1,600 |
£400 |
|
£2,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Part Funded by MBC - Look for external funding sources |
|
|
|
|
|
Senacre Wood |
|
£140 |
|
|
£140 |
River Len Nature Reserve |
|
£140 |
|
|
£140 |
Five Acres and Wents Wood |
|
£137 |
|
|
£137 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Already Funded by MBC |
|
|
|
|
|
Free Tree Scheme |
|
|
|
|
£0 |
Pond and Tree Warden Scheme |
|
|
|
|
£0 |
Bird Nesting Box Scheme |
|
|
|
|
£0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Partner led projects to be supported financially |
|
|
|
|
|
Orchards for Everyone |
£2,000 |
£2,000 |
£2,000 |
£2,000 |
£8,000 |
Ponds on the Downs |
£1,000 |
£1,000 |
|
|
£2,000 |
Wildlife on the Downs |
£500 |
£500 |
|
|
£1,000 |
Kent Habitat Survey |
£1,333 |
£1,333 |
|
|
£2,666 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Funding required to implement LBAP |
2010 |
Minimum 2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
MBC Total 2011-13 |
|
£9,333 Already committed from existing budgets |
£8,100 |
£3,650 |
£3,250 |
£15,000 |
Funded by another project stream within MBC |
|
|
|
|
|
Mote Park Restoration project |
|
|
|
|
£15,000 |
Developer Contributions |
|
|
|
|
|
Palace Wood |
|
|
|
|
£16,000 |
Working towards good biodiversity management |
|
|
|
|
|
Alternative options considered:
Alternative action could be to not adopt the LBAP or instigate the Biodiversity Projects, this is not recommended because the opportunity to lead and be directly involved in protecting and enhancing the borough’s biodiversity and raising awareness of biodiversity issues would be lost.
Reason Key: Significant Impact on two or more wards;
Wards Affected: (All Wards);
Details of the Committee: UK Biodiversity Action Plan Kent Biodiversity Action Plan Maidstone LBAP
Representations should be made by: 25/02/2011
Other reasons / organisations consulted
On Parks Pages for consultation and MBC
consultation portal
Consultees
Public
Contact: Jason Taylor, Parks and Leisure Manager Email: jasontaylor@maidstone.gov.uk.
Report author: Jason Taylor
Publication date: 04/11/2011
Date of decision: 04/11/2011
Decided: 04/11/2011 - Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services (Cttee)
Effective from: 12/11/2011
Accompanying Documents: