100 - Herefordshire Lowlands : 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 and manage the internationally important River Wye Special Area of Conservation and the many other watercourses and their flood plains to improve the health of the rivers and the quality and availability of water. Develop the capacity of the riverine environment to tolerate more extreme flow levels by protecting and creating new wet meadow and woodland in the flood plain and seek to increase recreational opportunities related to the riverine environment.

For example by:

• Enhancing the riverine character of the NCA by improving flood plain habitat, seeking opportunities to manage and create new wet meadow and woodland.
• Working with a wide range of partners to ensure that catchment sensitive farming principles and methods are used to reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, regulate water flow, reduce the impacts of flooding
  and help to build resilience to climate change, thereby improving the condition of riverine habitats and the opportunities for species that rely on the river to thrive.
• Managing riparian habitats, particularly low-input permanent pasture, hedgerows and woodland, to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality and biodiversity.
• Managing woodland on steep-sided hills and bankside trees, where appropriate, by coppicing to minimise land slippage, soil erosion and trees entering the rivers.
• Managing livestock grazing close to rivers to minimise soil compaction, soil erosion and diffuse pollution while addressing the need for the provision of water for livestock that does not have an impact on the water quality.
• Retaining, restoring and protecting bankside vegetation and the natural flood plain function of the rivers by appropriately managing, restoring and creating wetland habitats such as flood plain wet grasslands and woodlands; and improving the management of agricultural drainage and land use, increasing the area and volume of flood water storage capacity, reducing surface water run-off and soil erosion, reducing the impacts of flooding and improving resilience to climate change, water quality and biodiversity.
• Creating grassland buffer strips, water meadow and wet woodland adjacent to rivers to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality.
• Seeking opportunities to improve recreational opportunities for all sections of the community along the river corridors through the creation of new rights of way links and circular walks, particularly linking with the urban centres and long-distance footpaths.

SEO 2

SEO 2: Protect and enhance the natural and historic environment, integrating new development through the use of green infrastructure principles informed by existing heritage, geodiversity and biodiversity assets. Protect the agrarian character of the area by making the most of versatile and fertile soils to produce food while integrating semi-natural features and protecting above- and below-ground heritage assets and geological assets and reinforcing the strong sense of character.

For example by:

• Planning and delivering high-quality green infrastructure, informed by the Herefordshire Green Infrastructure Strategy, linking settlements and creating ecological and recreational networks; and maximising opportunities for people to have a high-quality experience of nature and heritage in both the urban areas and wider countryside.
• Conserving and protecting the integrity and fabric of historic buildings and their surrounding landscapes, particularly where new uses are being considered, and encouraging the use of appropriate styles and sustainable locally distinctive materials throughout the NCA.
• Protecting the area’s historical and contemporary rural nature, lack of intrusion and sense of tranquillity while supporting a working landscape that provides essential food, homes and recreational opportunities; and planning for reduced-carbon affordable housing that enhances landscape character and biodiversity, using local materials and built to high ecological standards.
• Conserving, managing and creating new orchards, conserving old fruit varieties, and developing the market for locally grown fruit and awareness of this as a local quality produce.
• Conserving, enhancing and making accessible the network of geological sites, where appropriate, to help to improve the understanding of the role that geodiversity plays, in particular its connection with biodiversity, landscape character, and industrial and cultural heritage.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Protect, manage and restore semi-natural habitats, in particular woodlands, grasslands, orchards and wet meadows within the rural and urban areas to improve ecological connectivity, biodiversity, geodiversity, landscape character, the historic environment, and flood water storage capacity and the ability of the landscape to adapt to the impacts of climate change. In particular, manage, restore and create new woodland, and develop connectivity in other semi-natural habitats such as the hedgerow networks and orchards.

For example by:

• Managing the semi-natural and ancient woodlands to improve landscape character, recreational opportunities, biodiversity and the benefits it can bring to soil quality and long-term carbon storage.
• Creating new woodland to improve connectivity with fragmented small woodlands and other habitats, re-introducing traditional coppice management, where appropriate, as a source of wood fuel, increasing recreational opportunities and increasing carbon storage for climate regulation.
• Maintaining standing dead trees and fallen trees within historic parklands and wood pasture to provide habitats for a range of species including invertebrates, roosting bats and birds, and replanting to replace fallen and decayed ancient and mature trees to maintain landscape character and sense of place and enhance biodiversity.
• Creating and restoring traditional orchards to maintain a network of this important landscape feature and priority habitat.
• Retaining, restoring, managing and planting new hedgerows in traditional local style, to enhance landscape character and improve habitat connectivity, particularly where this can assist in regulating water flow and soil erosion.
• Managing unimproved and wet grassland and seeking opportunities to create new habitat that reduces fragmentation and increases the extent of buffer zones.
• Managing existing traditional orchards and planting new orchards using local varieties to maintain local character and genetic diversity.
• Ensuring good take-up of agri-environment schemes to ensure sustainable land management and wildlife-friendly farming practices.
• Mapping of historic sites and development of management plans to ensure that the sites are protected and conserved as well as enjoyed as an asset to the area.