64 - Potteries and Churnet Valley : 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: Manage, expand, link and buffer the characteristic semi-natural woodland and protect the ancient woodland, for example in the Churnet Valley, reducing habitat fragmentation to benefit landscape character, biodiversity, resource protection and regulation; and enhancing the recreational and experiential qualities of the NCA.

For example by:

• Restoring typical zones of woodland types from willow carr and wet alder woodland on valley floors, ash woodland on the richer soils, to oak/birch woodland on upper slopes, in order to reduce fragmentation of woodland habitat and strengthen the historic character of the area.
• Encouraging the maintenance of semi-natural woodland enclosing characteristic ancient woodland pasture where it does not compromise other habitats; and encouraging new planting of native woodland that will link blocks of woodland, thus reducing habitat fragmentation and reinforcing a sense of history.
• Managing existing native woodland to ensure that it is in good ecological condition with appropriate species, diverse structure and habitat features for woodland biodiversity.
• Creating new areas of native woodland, where it will not compromise other habitats, by natural regeneration or through planting, expanding and linking the existing woodland, ensuring populations of key species to optimise species composition and woodland structure.
• Increasing access to woodland as part of woodland management, thus increasing the opportunities for quiet recreation and to experience tranquillity, ensuring that this does not compromise sensitive habitats and biosecurity.
• Developing and managing transitional scrub communities between woodland and adjoining habitats to buffer and soften the transition between woodland and grassland/heathland in order to create a coherent, robust habitat network.
• Managing the removal of non-native species, for example sycamore and rhododendron, and managing native species of scrub.
• Reinstating native woodland on plantations on ancient woodland sites.
• Seeking an economic return on wood products in order to sustain the management of native woodlands by stimulating a demand for wood products and wood fuel in urban areas and encouraging the installation of wood-fuel boilers in local amenity buildings.
• Maintaining historic parklands, restoring their key historic features and providing access where appropriate
• In urban areas, planting blocks of trees and street trees to provide shade, thus mitigating the effect of the urban heat island, increasing water infiltration rates and purifying the air.
• Maintaining ancient trees, ensuring that there is no further avoidable loss through development pressure, mismanagement or poor practice.
• Supporting volunteers to assist with the surveillance of the distribution of priority habitats and the distribution and the numbers of priority species as indicators of habitat continuity and quality, and supporting community woodland management generally.

SEO 2

SEO 2: Protect and manage the rivers, streams and springs to enhance the riverine character of the many valleys and cloughs to protect the quality of water from diffuse pollution to benefit biodiversity; and expand riparian habitats to mitigate flood events and to improve the experiential qualities of the NCA.

For example by:

• Seeking more sustainable water supply usage and encouraging water harvesting and overwintering storage of water to reduce abstraction during peak demand.
• Identifying natural areas for floodwater storage to reduce the reliance on hard engineering solutions, widening where possible and ensuring that flood plains are not inappropriately developed; reinstating flood meadows where possible throughout the riparian environs; and ensuring dual use of riparian open spaces in urban areas, for example flood-compatible playing fields and parks.
• In collaboration with the Environment Agency, investigating the possibility of using water supply reservoirs upstream of the NCA for floodwater storage; and investigating the water management requirements throughout the Dove, Churnet and Trent valleys to determine optimum depth, duration and frequency of flood events for riparian habitats.
• Encouraging the removal of weirs and culverts that constrict water flow and present a barrier to the migration of fish and invertebrates.
• In the Churnet Valley, protecting the integrity of limestone springs and tufa deposits from pollution and disturbance.
• Protecting native woodlands and wetlands along stream and river corridors by buffering to maintain the integrity of wetland habitats, planting new riparian woodland, maintaining areas of shade in the wooded cloughs and extending permanent grassland along the wider valleys, for example the Dove Valley.
• Encouraging farmers to join the Catchment Sensitive Farming Programme, with the objective to improve water quality by reducing incidences of: foul run-off from outdoor feeding areas, silage clamps, yards and cattle tracks; stock entering streams; stock poaching stream banks; and poaching of fields by cattle movement.
• Minimising fertiliser inputs and the use of pesticides to prevent groundwater pollution in areas of freely draining soils and close to watercourses.
• Managing wet woodland to ensure a supply of large, or coarse, woody debris to rivers and streams to slow the water flow and trap sediment for the benefits to water regulation and biodiversity.
• Avoiding the uniform pollarding of willow to allow a higher percentage to become over-mature, split and collapse, in order to maintain a supply of deadwood to watercourses, and in appropriate locations allow log-jams to build naturally.
• Managing and controlling invasive non-native species, for example Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed in the terrestrial environment and signal crayfish in the aquatic environment.
• Supporting re-introduction projects, for example Atlantic salmon and native crayfish.
• Incorporating the principles of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDs) in urban areas – for example, incorporating greenspace and unsealed soil into urban development for water infiltration.
• Increasing the length of open water corridors and increasing areas of connected greenspace through the urban areas by de-culverting the River Trent and streams, where appropriate reinstating flood plains and creating riparian semi-natural habitats, for example reedbeds that can slow the current and filter water.
• Creating priority habitats along sections of canals to benefit priority species – for example, floating water plantain on bodies of still water, water vole in modified canal banks, and bats in canal tunnels.
• Supporting partners to develop projects to prevent rising mine waters from entering watercourses.
• Supporting projects that identify point-source and diffuse pollution in urban areas through misconnection of domestic waste, illegal discharges from industry and diffuse run-off.
• Supporting and encouraging volunteers to assist with the surveillance of the distribution of priority habitats and the distribution and numbers of priority species as indicators of habitat continuity and quality.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Manage and expand areas of characteristic unimproved grassland pastures in the Churnet Valley and heathland and moorland of the Staffordshire Moorlands, reducing habitat fragmentation and restoring traditional boundary features to benefit landscape character, sense of place, biodiversity and resource protection while enhancing the recreational and experiential qualities of the NCA.

For example by:

• Reversing the fragmentation of heathland and moorland habitats by restoring gaps in their distribution through the creation of semi-natural habitats, natural regeneration and transitional communities between habitats.
• Recognising the importance of the heathland habitats and protecting them for their historic smallholdings – rare surviving examples of rural- industrial landscapes; and halting the loss and degradation of heathland by reinstating grazing regimes with appropriate stocking levels.
• Buffering grasslands and heathlands from surrounding land uses and managing unimproved grassland for breeding waders.
• Supporting landowners and landscape partnerships to manage the number of unimproved grassland sites in order to preserve biodiversity and retain the knowledge of traditional management techniques.
• Encouraging the restoration of hedgerows in valleys and on lower-lying land with typical species, by gapping up and planting accompanying hedgerow trees, adopting appropriate cutting regimes and tagging to extend the age range and species diversity.
• Maintaining drystone walls in upland areas in preference to stock- proof fencing.
• In urban and urban fringe areas, managing existing biodiversity resources and reversing fragmentation by improving habitat connectivity through re-connecting areas of ‘trapped countryside’ to the rural areas.
• Encouraging equestrian landowners to lay mixed-species grassland and replace ranch-style and stock-proof fences with native species hedgerows.
• Encouraging sustainable farming practices and promoting suitable management of arable land to deliver habitats for farmland birds.

SEO 4

SEO 4: Protect and manage historic landscape character and associated heritage assets that include the historic transport network and industrial heritage and improve the understanding of its intrinsic links with geodiversity; and find sustainable solutions to manage visitor pressure at popular attractions, for example Alton Towers and Trentham Gardens, thus supporting the tourist economy and maintaining a high level of public access to enjoy the wealth of recreational experience that the NCA offers.

For example by:

• Providing sustainable transport solutions for visitors, to alleviate traffic congestion in the villages of Alton, Farley and Oakamoor and the narrow lanes of the Churnet Valley, by encouraging an integrated transport network between visitor attractions, linking with public rights of way and cycle routes.
• Encouraging more people to visit the open countryside for quiet enjoyment, meeting the needs of diverse audiences and improving health and wellbeing while reducing the number of visitors to traffic- congested sites; and supporting and promoting community engagement and participation, to provide local people and visitors with the range of benefits offered by contact with the natural environment.
• Protecting and providing interpretation on sites that exemplify the influence that geodiversity and industrial heritage have had on shaping development and settlement patterns.
• Protecting and maintaining the natural geomorphological features and exposures in the river valleys and cloughs to maintain ecological status; and providing opportunities for research and education to study past environmental change and enhance recreational experience.
• Improving access to and interpretation of present-day geomorphological activity, including tufa deposits associated with the many valley springs and ongoing fluvial activity in the form of channel migration and flood plain deposition associated with the Trent, Churnet and Dove rivers.
• Ensuring that the restoration proposals for former mineral extraction sites include provision of geological exposures for research; and where appropriate improving access to cuttings, quarries and other geological features by improving footpaths and providing signage and interpretation.
• Working with the appropriate organisations to maintain the integrity of road, rail and canal cuttings, to ensure that geological exposures are not obscured by hard engineering solutions – of particular relevance in the Churnet Valley, where landslips are occurring more frequently.
• Considering small-scale extraction of stone from quarries that could provide material for repairing traditional buildings and drystone walls, thus maintaining the vernacular.
• Seeking ways to sustainably manage the demand for water and energy resources and providing recycling facilities at tourist destinations, to minimise the impact on the environment and to raise awareness.
• Where appropriate in the landscape, supporting farm diversification of short-stay and long-stay accommodation; and developing sites for camping and tourist caravans, especially along rights of way, for example the Sabrina Way Bridleway and in proximity to Alton Towers and the neighbouring Peak District National Park.
• Restoring the historic canal and rail networks as an alternative sustainable transport solution to improve tourist access and access to the rural countryside from population centres.
• Supporting the objectives of the Staffordshire County Council Rights of Way Improvement Plan: by creating new circular routes and easy access walks; and ensuring that paths are surfaced, maintained and signposted, while diverting public access away from eroded areas and sensitive habitats.
• Supporting the objectives of the English Heritage conservation areas that enhance the sense of history and sense of place.
• Maintaining and managing historic parklands, restoring key historic features, for example vistas, and providing access and interpretation where possible.
• Resisting the introduction of urban features into the rural/village landscape, for example unnecessary lighting and signage and the use of inappropriate building materials, to maintain the sense of history.
• In collaboration with English Heritage, considering the sensitive redevelopment of historic sites, for example the redevelopment of the Bolton Copperworks site at Froghall, to include interpretation and visitor access.
• Providing interpretation of the former mines and industrial sites that have led to the creation of the Lyme Valley Park, Central Forest Park, Westport Lake, Chatterley Whitfield Heritage Country Park and the garden festival site at Etruria, which contribute to the historical, experiential and biodiversity qualities of the NCA.

Additional opportunity 1

Additional opportunity 1: Identify and protect a stock of open mosaic habitats on previously developed land, to conserve these sites that often provide habitat that cannot be recreated and for the sense of history they provide.

For example by:

• Raising awareness, through the Local Biodiversity and Geodiversity Action Plans and the planning system, of the increasing importance of post- industrial and extractive sites to our understanding of industrial heritage and to the unique habitats they provide.
• Working in partnership with the construction industry and quarry operators to develop schemes and restoration proposals for working sites that deliver a high-quality and diverse environment and, where appropriate ecological conditions and opportunities exist, provide for areas of successional colonisation by flora.
• Considering new technological solutions to interpret habitats, artefacts and historic buildings, describing the role each has had on the heritage and development of the landscape over time.
• Working in partnership with sand and gravel quarry operators to develop restoration proposals incorporating wetland habitats that could also provide floodwater storage areas.
• Working with the Local Geodiversity and Biodiversity Partnerships to designate further Local Sites to assist with the understanding of soils and geodiversity and their influence on landscape character and biodiversity, and to provide opportunities for recreation and volunteering.
• Through partnerships and friends’ groups, encouraging volunteers to train in surveying techniques to monitor the quality of Local Sites and to retain the knowledge and skills required for their future management.