122 - High Weald : Detailed Statements of Environmental Opportunity

This section expands on the Headline Statements of Environmental Opportunity and provides further detail on each of the Statements of Environmental Opportunity.

SEO 1

SEO 1: Maintain and enhance the existing woodland and pasture components of the landscape, including the historic field pattern bounded by shaws, hedgerows and farm woods, to improve ecological function at a landscape scale for the benefit of biodiversity, soils and water, sense of place and climate regulation, safeguard ancient woodlands and encourage sustainably produced timber to support local markets and contribute to biomass production.

For example by:

• Encouraging the sustainable management of woodland by developing local markets for wood products and the skills to deliver these sustainably.
• Ensuring that any increased woodland cover is informed by the historical nature of the area, and promoting small-scale woodland creation to buffer existing woods, enhance landscape connectivity and manage flood flows.
• Increasing the viability of woodland habitats for wildlife by determining the area of appropriately managed woodland necessary to link and enhance isolated habitats and species to provide better connectivity between woodlands and encourage species’ resilience to climate change.
• Promoting sustainable woodland management techniques (such as coppicing, pollarding and wood fuel production) to increase carbon substitutions and sequestration and the resilience of tree species to climate change and disease.
• Establishing a long-term ecological monitoring and research programme to assess the management status of woodlands and the impacts of diseases such as ash dieback, climate change and pressure from deer.
• Working with the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to continue support for the restoration of planted ancient woodland sites.
• Adopting a suitable distance (approximately 15 m) as a minimum buffer around ancient woodlands to protect them from damaging development or land management operations.
• Promoting and raising awareness of the archaeology and historic assets of woodland.
• Working with the High Weald AONB to promote the use of local wood products such as chestnut fencing and timber in housing developments and the use of locally sourced wood fuel.
• Promoting the High Weald AONB design guidance to contribute to improved design quality within the area.
• Extending woodland around settlements and infrastructure developments to filter light pollution and reduce sound pollution and the visual impacts of further urbanisation.
• Maintaining and restoring links between woodland and other woodland habitats (such as hedgerows, traditional orchards and parkland) and species-rich grasslands and heathland outside the main woodland. This will create a robust network of wooded and open semi-natural habitats that will benefit the internationally important populations of bats, as well as other species.
• Maintaining good pastoral land use and agriculturally productive fields, and using field margins and well-managed hedgerows to maintain ecological links across arable patches, reducing water flow and resultant soil erosion and providing benefits to water quality.
• Encouraging and supporting the appropriate management of lowland meadows by owners, including through local owners’ groups, providing benefits for the local community, biodiversity, the landscape and soil quality.
• Maintaining woodland cover – which provides integrated benefits for soil quality, water flow, soil erosion, water quality and management of steep gill woodland – for example through coppicing, to reduce land slippage and tree fall entering watercourses.
• Work with Forestry Commission to explore the potential for bring two thirds of woodland back into active management with the potential for increasing 25,000m3 per year of confer sawlogs, 10,000m3 per year of broadleaved sawlogs and a further 110,000m3 of lower quality wood which could be used as woodfuel with an energy value of around 230,000 MWh.

SEO 2

SEO 2: Maintain and restore the natural function of river catchments at a landscape scale, promoting benefits for water quality and water flow within all Wealden rivers, streams and flood plains by encouraging sustainable land management and best agricultural practices to maintain good soil quality, reduce soil erosion, increase biodiversity and enhance sense of place. Maintain and enhance the geodiversity and especially the exposed sandrock.

For example by:

• Working in partnership across sectors and National Character Area (NCA) boundaries to tackle the challenges associated with flood risk, pollution and low flows in order to safeguard surface water resources, especially those failing to meet Water Framework Directive objectives for good ecological status.
• Ensuring that sustainable water and land management strategies for Wealden river catchments are adhered to in accordance with the Water Framework Directive.
• Improving understanding of how to respond to and plan for climate change impacts and future consumer demands, and the interrelationships between supply and demand in adjoining NCAs, including the impacts of reduced water availability on important biodiversity sites.
• Buffering watercourses and reservoirs and restoring natural river geomorphology to improve water quality and reduce flood risk in settlements and valuable agricultural land by regulating water flow.
• Drawing on best practice principles such as those developed by the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency on the Pickering Brook in Yorkshire and established under catchment sensitive farming initiatives. As well as building on and supporting existing stakeholder groups to help to deliver a good water environment across the High Weald, benefiting biodiversity and local communities.
• Encouraging sustainable water use by homes and businesses supplied from catchments and promoting sustainable drainage systems.
• Controlling invasive non-native species, particularly along river banks, to reduce soil exposure and erosion.
• Encouraging integration of environmentally sensitive water policy objectives through land management practices such as agri-environment schemes and water resource and land use planning to ensure that an appropriate balance is maintained between water supply and demand.
• Exploring opportunities for landowners to work together across catchments to restore more natural river systems including wet woodland creation to deliver biodiversity, amenity, resource protection and flood control benefits.
• Working with the High Weald AONB to identify the potential of naturally functioning rivers and flood plains to regulate flooding, improve water quality, restore flood plain woodland and protect and enhance wildlife and fisheries.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Maintain and enhance the distinctive dispersed settlement pattern, parkland and historic pattern and features of the routeways of the High Weald, encouraging the use of locally characteristic materials and Wealden practices to ensure that any development recognises and retains the distinctiveness, biodiversity, geodiversity and heritage assets present, reaffirm sense of place and enhance the ecological function of routeways to improve the connectivity of habitats and provide wildlife corridors.

For example by:

• Ensuring that the repair, restoration or conversion of vernacular buildings is carried out with due regard to their historical interest, using local materials and appropriate styles and techniques to maintain local distinctiveness, construction techniques and traditions.
• Encouraging new developments to follow the vernacular of the area, using locally sourced materials and adhering to the principles of the High Weald AONB design guidance.
• Working with local communities to encourage the continuation of traditional land management practices and land uses that are necessary to retain the landscape character and the sense of place in this area.
• Improving sustainable public access through the rights of way network, provision of visitor facilities, and access to and interpretation of important sites for geodiversity, biodiversity and heritage in order to increase the understanding, enjoyment and appreciation of the landscape, and of the history of use that has shaped the area.
• Ensuring that the repair, restoration or conversion of buildings provides additional opportunities for bird boxes and bat roosts.
• Supporting community growing schemes, social forestry enterprises and partnerships with local land businesses to encourage local markets and seasonal outlets, supplying local food and wood fuel and promotion of rural skills training.
• Conserving the cultural heritage of local authors and artists by maintaining the traditions that create the distinctive landscape and local sense of place.
• Promoting information about the historical development of towns, villages, hamlets and farmsteads and their hinterlands including historical maps and accessible online information.
• Ensuring that the duty of regard is adhered to in relation to core components of natural beauty in the planning and development for towns and villages in and adjacent to the AONB.
• Exploring community initiatives to extend baseline mapping of the ancient routeway network to include public rights of ways, tracks and abandoned paths and to ensure community engagement in conserving and protecting ancient routeways.
• Undertaking archaeological research to better understand ancient routeways and their features in order to inform appropriate management.
• Working in partnership with highways authorities and communities to develop a design code for rural lanes promoting the use of characteristic boundaries and minimising the impacts of engineering and signage.
• Working in partnership with highways authorities and others to review and develop approaches to the management of roadside trees and coppice.
• Exploring initiatives that promote the contribution that ancient routeways make to a well-functioning ecological network.

SEO 4

SEO 4: Manage and enhance recreational opportunities, public understanding and enjoyment integrated with the conservation and enhancement of the natural and historic environment, a productive landscape and tranquillity, in accordance with the purpose of the High Weald AONB designation.

For example by:

• Maintaining and enhancing the extensive rights of way network and open access land throughout the area, improving links to the Sussex Border Path, High Weald Landscape Trail and Weald Way and creating additional links to relieve pressure on sensitive areas through a network of greenspace and linear access.
• Increasing understanding and enjoyment through education and interpretation materials especially where this helps to promote the sensitive features of designated sites, ensuring that access balances recreational enjoyment with the protection of biodiversity, geodiversity and historic features.
• Integrating the management of resources for informal open-air recreation to facilitate ‘green’ use by residents and visitors and meet the need of less able-bodied visitors.
• Identifying and promoting viewpoints that enable appreciation and experience of the tranquillity and outstanding natural beauty of the High Weald landscape by people of all abilities.
• Supporting community initiatives that promote small-scale land management improvements and identify and conserve local features.
• Promoting sustainable tourism initiatives that target a broad range of visitors and, where practical, reduce car dependency, accommodating high visitor numbers while conserving the landscape, its biodiversity and tranquillity.
• Exploring partnership initiatives to disseminate clear environmental education messages to encourage integration of recreation and public enjoyment opportunities with conservation of the natural and historic environment, using key sites and areas as examples of best practice.
• Promoting sustainable transport, green tourism and natural health initiatives such as themed High Weald AONB short breaks.
• Supporting projects that contribute to the conservation and management of special qualities and locally valued features such as tranquillity and dark skies and historic features such as abbeys and hop gardens.

Additional opportunity 1

Additional opportunity 1: Protect and maintain the sandstone outcrops and other geological features of the High Weald to promote greater understanding of geodiversity and the contributions that they make to the cultural heritage of the area.

For example by:

• Maintaining nationally important geological features to ensure no loss to sandstone outcrops and promoting further understanding and appreciation of sandrock exposures, reducing threats and/or inappropriate use and management.
• Maintaining views of geological features and exposures and, where appropriate, improving access to cuttings, quarries and other exposures of geological features to enable improved understanding and enjoyment of geodiversity and sense of history.
• Maintaining the nationally important sandrock exposures to conserve the fern, moss and liverwort communities that they support and to protect their value as some of the most significant sites of prehistoric archaeology in the AONB.
• Maintaining and enhancing all existing rock exposures and natural landforms that are important for understanding the origin and geological development of the High Weald.
• Helping to secure geological conservation as an integral part of the development process.
• Providing scrub control on exposed rock faces and outcrops of geological importance.