44 - Central Lincolnshire Vale : Analysis: Landscape Attributes & Opportunities

Analysis supporting Statements of Environmental Opportunity

The following analysis section focuses on the landscape attributes and opportunities for this NCA.

Further analysis on ecosytem services for this NCA is contained in the Analysis: Ecosytem Services section.

Landscape attributes

A tranquil, rural and sparsely settled area with little major infrastructure or urban settlements.

Justification for selection:

• The generally low levels of visual and auditory intrusion mean tranquillity is generally high. Settlements are thinly scattered, roads are generally quiet while the lack of urban development means night skies are relatively dark. Bardney Limewoods and parts of the Ancholme Valley are the most tranquil areas.

Woodlands including nationally important ancient limewoods.

Justification for selection:

• Multiple and interconnecting benefits can be attributed to the woodlands of the Vale, especially the ancient woodlands and the Bardney Limewoods National Nature Reserve. They are important for timber provision, storage of carbon, sense of place and history, inspiration, biodiversity and recreation as well as benefitting water and soil regulation services.

Suitability for farming with land used mostly as arable farmland with pasture on the heavier clays and around villages.

Justification for selection:

• The Vale has generally naturally fertile soils a gentle topography, a suitable climate and availability of water. Some of the impacts of modern commercial agriculture in the Vale, however, impact negatively on established character and the function of ecosystems such as removal of hedgerows for field amalgamation and extensive watercourse modification to maximise drainage and minimise inundation of arable land.

A landscape crossed by many streams flowing from the Wolds towards the heavily modified courses of the main rivers. High groundwater, flooded gravel sites, aquifers, and navigable waterways are important features.

Justification for selection:

• Water retentive soils linked to mudstone bedrock geology means despite having relatively low rainfall, water is widely available in the soils. The Vale also has water available from aquifers especially the Lincolnshire Limestone aquifer, a profusion of streams flowing from the Wolds as well as navigable waterways and flooded gravel pits for recreation.

A landscape with a rich sense of history. Medieval sites with remnant ridge and furrow, deserted medieval villages, and a cluster of monastic sites close to the River Witham.

Justification for selection:

• Sense of history comes from the monastic sites, the ancient woodlands especially the Limewoods, the historic villages, towns and farmsteads and their characteristic vernacular architecture, the parklands as well as the Tudor Tattershall castle. The tranquillity of the landscape also enhances this attribute of the Vale.
• Lincoln Cathedral, although just outside the NCA in the west, provides a landmark across much of the area.

A landscape offering recreational opportunity associated with its natural and cultural heritage.

Justification for selection:

• The Vale’s location in close proximity to Lincoln combined with its appealing attributes makes its recreation appeal significant. Recreation assets include the Witham corridor green infrastructure link with Lincoln, close proximity of the Wolds AONB and the Wolds scarp, the Viking Way long-distance footpath and the range of other walking routes especially those around the Lincolnshire Limewoods, Woodhall Spa resort, the woodlands and heathlands, the suitability of the topography and network of quiet lanes for cycling and the heritage assets.

Semi-natural habitat is limited due to past land use, however significant remnants of lowland heath survive on the Coversands and Fen Edge Gravels and the wider Lincolnshire Limewoods including Bardney Limewoods NNR represents England’s biggest concentration of ancient small-leaved lime-dominated woodland.

Justification for selection:

• Although overall extent of semi-natural habitats is extremely limited the Vale’s remaining habitats display a high diversity. This ranges from heathland to ancient deciduous woodland to wetland habitats while its farmland habitats are important to farmland birds. Recent habitat creation in parts of the Vale such as wet grassland within the Ancholme flood plain and woodland creation within the Lincolnshire Limewoods area has boosted this attribute.

A very varied geology with bedrock of Jurassic mudstones, almost entirely covered by a variety of superficial deposits, largely of glacial till and with the Wolds scarp providing an often prominent boundary to the east.

Justification for selection:

• The Vale has a wide diversity of geology especially its superficial geology and the soils that have arisen. This ranges from the clayey soils over the main part of the Vale, the sandy soils of the Coversands and Fen Edge Gravels, the lime-rich soils over the chalk of the Wolds and the peaty soils of the upper Ancholme Valley. Other assets include the Wolds scarp, the Lincolnshire limestone aquifer, the rich fossil fauna of the bedrock mudstones and the sand and gravel deposits.

Landscape opportunities

• Protect tranquillity through development of well designed green infrastructure which enables access and enjoyment of the Vale while protecting it from the potential negative impact of increased use.
• Protect sense of place through raising the design quality and appearance of new and existing development and screen urban and industrial influences with the use of substantial and appropriate woodland planting (such as gravel workings) as well as other means such as use of green roofs.
• Enhance the woodlands of the Vale through expansion and linking up of ancient woodlands especially the Lincolnshire Limewoods, through the enhancement of Forestry Commission woodland sites to replace harvested conifer crops with native deciduous woodland as well as heathland habitats where possible.
• Enhance the hedgerow network, especially within the main agricultural areas. Restore and manage hedgerows where they have been lost to strengthen the historical field patterns, as well as to help regulate soil erosion and water quality, and use hedgerows to link up woodlands and semi-natural habitats.
• Plan to significantly improve the capacity of natural ecosystems to support the long-term viability of farming in the Vale through creation of networks of semi-natural habitat network across the agricultural landscape through take up of agri-environment grants and environmentally sustainable farming practices.
• Restore and re-connect watercourses and flood plains to enhance their natural functionality to improve regulation of water quality and flow, reduce soil erosion and to create wetland habitats and strengthen ecological connectivity. Restore gravel extraction sites to wetland habitats.
• Enhance sense of history through the protection and appropriate management of historic assets, protecting pasture containing archaeological features (including ridge and furrow) from conversion to arable use, reducing cultivation damage to protect archaeology by encouraging best practice such as direct drilling and shallow tilling and conversion to permanent pasture.
• Protect the historical settlement pattern and vernacular character through informed spatial planning processes to secure high quality design standards in new development including the appropriate use of traditional building materials.
• Enhance recreation provision without impacting adversely on tranquillity, especially in relation to green infrastructure links from Lincoln, the footpath network, accessible woodlands and the development of sustainable tourism.
• Enhance and expand heathland and associated habitats including grassland on the Fen Edge Gravels and the Coversands. Plan to restore and create new habitats throughout the agricultural landscape, especially grassland and wetland habitats to strengthen ecological linkages and wildlife networks and to benefit delivery of other ecosystem services.
• Manage the exploitation of sand and gravel deposits carefully so that damage to landscape character, archaeology and existing habitats is minimised and that landscape, access, geodiversity and biodiversity enhancements are maximised in well-designed restoration schemes such as through the creation of new wetland, woodland and other habitats.