117 - Avon Vales : 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: Protect, manage and enhance the semi-natural habitats, including the pastoral waterside landscape of permanent pasture and wet grassland, calcareous and neutral grasslands, and (as site appropriate) ponds, and investigate and pursue opportunities to create such habitats, to increase resilience to climate change, reduce soil erosion and provide benefits to the water environment and biodiversity in general.

For example by:

• Maintaining, extending and linking fragmented areas of species-rich calcareous and neutral grassland largely on the nearby limestone hills and in the river valleys where they can both enhance biodiversity (particularly invertebrate and landscape) and help to reduce soil erosion and nutrient run-off.
• Restoring, maintaining and extending flood meadows and wet woodland, to enhance the landscape and cultural environment and the sense of place, and to increase water retention capacity for the benefit of flood alleviation.
• Restoring and re-creating ponds, for the benefit of wildlife in general and the enhancement of the landscape character.
• Reinstating riverine habitats such as backwaters and reedbeds, lost largely through engineering work, to provide refuges for aquatic species, in the interests of biodiversity, and, by assisting with water filtration, to benefit water quality and water flow.
• Reinstating and managing hedgerows to restore the local landscape character, to help reduce soil erosion and to foster linear habitat networks for pollinators and pest regulation for the benefit of agriculture, biodiversity generally and – notably – farmland birds.
• Creating grassland buffer strips across slopes and alongside watercourses to help reduce soil erosion and nutrient run-off in areas of arable production and grazing.
• Protecting and encouraging planting of riverside trees, to help stabilise river banks, managing these by pollarding for longevity and aiding adaptation to climate change.

SEO 2

SEO 2: Protect and manage the area’s woodlands and parklands for their rich ecological, historical and archaeological resource, to foster a sense of place and to provide benefits to wildlife, and work to establish appropriate access, thus enhancing cultural, health and recreational benefits for local residents.

For example by:

• Protecting and encouraging arable reversion and scrub removal over ridge and furrow, in the interests of buried archaeology and other historic earthworks.
• Maintaining, restoring and extending existing woodland, including ancient woodland, to enhance wildlife networks and enhance resilience of existing woodland habitats, in particular in relation to the bat communities.
• Maintaining and restoring historic parkland landscapes and, in particular, nurturing and replacing veteran trees, especially where they are vulnerable to changes in agricultural practices and where they are important for lichens, invertebrates and fungi, while encouraging deadwood management as appropriate.
• Maintaining access to important geological features, ensuring that they are kept free of material or vegetation and promoting educational use and awareness through interpretation.
• Developing access on foot, and where possible on bicycle and horse, for recreation and other use, in the interests of reducing traffic (to benefit the climate) and the health and enjoyment of residents and visitors to the area.
• Exploring and developing any potential for recreational use of the woodland in general.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Plan for the creation of new landscapes associated with the expansion of towns such as Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge, while incorporating the existing landscape features into green infrastructure planning. This will serve the interests of local landscape character, access and recreation, biomass provision, biodiversity and water flow regulation.

For example by:

• Planting short rotation coppice and miscanthus locally where this can link into existing woodland and can screen and (where site appropriate) soften the edge of new development while serving as a local source of biomass energy.
• Developing woodlands and new wetland habitat within and around new development as a recreational resource and as part of sustainable urban drainage systems, to help regulate water flow.
• Seeking to provide community food growing opportunities within the planned open space associated with new development.
• Promoting the use of sustainable materials and integrated renewable energy technologies within new low carbon developments, to be fostered as reflecting local character.
• Developing accessible open spaces and making provision for their sustainable management.
• Ensuring the provision of green corridors for wildlife along canal and river banks and in any development sites, and generally to explore and expand linkages between the natural landscapes of the area.
• Promoting green travel schemes, such as cycle paths between neighbouring urban areas, in the interests of the environment generally.

SEO 4

SEO 4: Protect and manage the varied rural landscape of small urban areas amid gently rolling arable and pasture, and thick hedges interspersed with small woods, securing wide-ranging views, reinforcing landscape character, preventing soil erosion, promoting sense of place and tranquillity, and providing recreational benefits.

For example by:

• Protecting against insensitive development and/or alterations that would impact on the rural character, ensuring that buildings reflect traditional styles and methods such as limestone ashlar.
• Maintaining the distinctive stone-built centres to larger settlements and the overall settlement pattern of clustered villages along stream sides, linked with narrow winding lanes.
• Working with the local community to foster the mixed agriculture and the sense of place that this brings, as well as in the interests of food production.
• Retaining and managing roadside ditches in the valleys and (on the higher land in the east) the drystone walls, where they can assist in the prevention of soil erosion, in keeping with local styles and management traditions.
• Working to develop permissive access linking existing settlements, and developing circular routes, in the interests of sustainable transport and tourism, engaging local residents with their environment and for the benefit of recreation generally.