16 - Durham Coalfield Pennine Fringe : Natural Capital and Key Ecosystem Services

Introduction

The Durham Pennine Coalfield Fringe NCA provides a wide range of benefits to society. Each is derived from the attributes and processes (both natural and cultural features) within the area. These benefits are known collectively as ‘ecosystem services’. The predominant services are summarised below. Further information on ecosystem services provided in the Durham Pennine Coalfield Fringe NCA is contained in the ‘Analysis’ section of this website.

What is Natural Capital?

Natural capital means “the elements of nature that directly or indirectly produce value to people, including ecosystems, species, freshwater, land, minerals, the air and oceans, as well as natural processes and functions” (Natural Capital Committee, 2017).

It is helpful to consider natural capital in the form of a logic chain that represents the links between ecosystem assets, services, benefits and value to people. The figure below displays that logic chain. The quantity and quality of ecosystem assets (woodland, bogs, etc) support different types of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration or water filtration. These ecosystem services then provide different benefits to society, providing value for people. The figure also shows how management interventions, as well as pressures and drivers of change, influence this chain. Other capital inputs are also often needed for people to obtain the benefits from ecosystem services (a simple example is the processing of trees to produce wood products).

As an example, an area of woodland (ecosystem asset) may reduce air pollution created by traffic on a nearby road. This woodland is therefore improving air quality (ecosystem service) in the local area which results in cleaner air and improved health in the adjacent residential street (benefit). This cleaner air has a value because we know it impacts the health and wellbeing of communities.

Sometimes for ease of understanding, economic framing is used to give these benefits a monetary value. The figure below shows how natural capital assets support the provision of ecosystem services, benefits and value. The roots of the tree show how aspects of asset quality are critical to the provision of ecosystem services. The roots also show that geodiversity underpins the ecosystem assets and therefore the ecosystem services and benefits they can provide. It is important to remember that this diagram, and natural capital frameworks more generally, are a simplification of how nature works in practice.

Natural Capital within this NCA

In 2018, Natural England published ‘Natural Capital Indicators: for defining and measuring change in natural capital’ (Lusardi et al., 2018). This report identified key properties of the natural environment vital for the long-term sustainability of benefits, which can act as indicators of change.

These indicators are designed to inform our understanding of the state of our natural assets. The indicators highlight the importance of our natural assets for delivering which ecosystem service and the benefits they provide for society. The indicators and datasets identified in Natural England’s Natural Capital Indicators Project provide the foundation for the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles.

Natural England’s Natural Capital Atlas Profiles provide an “off the shelf” natural capital evidence base for each county or city region. They have a wide variety of uses with more information in the How to Start Using Your Natural Capital Atlas.

The Natural Capital indicators are presented on the map below by broad asset theme, displaying the natural capital within the NCA.

It is noted that not all indicators listed within the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles are included within the map as data is not yet available to measure them. Refer to the “Indicator Gaps and Limitations” of the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles for further information.

Natural Capital Atlas Profiles

The following Natural Capital Atlas Profiles cover counties within this NCA:
 

• 26: North East and Tees Valley Combined Authorities
• 27: North of Tyne

Provisioning services (food, fibre and water supply)

Food provision: The area has a mixture of livestock and arable farming to the east and upland livestock to the west. It produces primarily cereals, oilseeds, beef and lamb. Dairy farming has declined in recent years. There is a strong tradition of people growing their own food on allotments, particularly around ex-mining towns, where there are large numbers of allotment sites.

Timber provision: There are some substantial conifer plantations in the area, and large commercial woods include Chopwell Wood and Hamsterley Forest. Woodland covers 14.3 per cent of the NCA and includes some ancient semi-natural woodland, particularly along streams and rivers. There are four sawmills.

Biomass energy: The area has high potential for short rotation coppice production, and there are already some substantial plantations supplying fuel for the Wilton 10 power plant at Teesside. Timber processing waste from local sawmills is also used for wood fuel, with potential for more use of waste in this way.

Water availability: A number of major rivers give the area good water availability, although there are no major aquifers. Some of the area’s rivers are connected to the Kielder Water Scheme, whereby a regional water grid transfers water from Kielder Reservoir to maintain supplies of water to the conurbations of Tyneside and Wearside. For information regarding the current state of water availability within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Abstraction Licensing Strategy).

Regulating services (water purification, air quality maintenance and climate regulation)

Regulating water quality: For information regarding the current state of water quality within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Draft river basin management plan maps).

Regulating water flow: Settlements within the NCA with the greatest flood risk are Lanchester on the River Browney, and West Auckland and South Church on the River Gaunless. The greatest flood risk from the rivers that pass through this NCA is to properties downstream in settlements such as Newcastle and Gateshead in the Tyne catchment, and Durham and Chester-le-Street in the Wear catchment. Land management practices upstream, within the North Pennines, are important in moderating flood flows, while within this area more flood storage in the river valleys, with grassland and woodland along stream sides and river corridors, will contribute to slowing run-off of rainfall into watercourses, therefore lessening the severity of peak flow events.

Cultural services (inspiration, education and wellbeing)

Sense of place/inspiration: The landscape is transitional between upland and lowland, with a series of broad ridges running approximately west-east divided by river valleys. The geology has a defining impact, with the coal seams giving rise to strong coal mining and steel production industry in the past. This has left a legacy of industrial archaeology and terraced colliery and steel towns. Wooded river valleys are also a strong feature, and are of great value for wildlife and recreation. The character of the farmed landscape changes from west to east, with grassland and moorland divided by stone on the higher land to the west, and more mixed farming and arable with fields divided by hedges to the east. Reclamation of open cast mines has given rise to some featureless areas lacking time-depth, but schemes are now vastly improved and can create new areas of real wildlife, landscape and recreation value.

Sense of history: There is a very strong sense of history due to the large number of historic mining and mineral extraction/processing sites. This has left behind not only infrastructure such as old wagonways and railways (now often converted to footpaths and cycle routes) and distinctive mining settlements and ‘steel towns’ but also a strong association with mining in local culture and identity, despite the demise of the deep coal pits in the 1990s. Conversely, some early restoration schemes of open cast mining sites have resulted in the removal of historic features and creation of obviously manmade landscapes that lack time-depth.

Recreation: The NCA has good recreational opportunities, providing potential health benefits for users. Recreation is supported by the area’s rights of way network (with a density of 1.9 km per km²), as well as open access land (4 per cent of the NCA) and a number of key sites such as Chopwell Wood and Hamsterley Forest. The access network is particularly important in enabling links to the wider countryside from urban areas, allowing for recreation opportunities such as angling, horse riding, golfing, bird/wildlife watching and walking.