56 - Lancashire Coal Measures : 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: Safeguard, manage and expand the mosaic of wetland habitats, including lowland raised bogs, reedbeds, wet pastures, watercourses, subsidence flashes and ponds – to protect and enhance their ecological value, to increase their contribution to the landscape, to manage flood risk, to improve water quality, and to increase the resilience to climate change of these habitats and associated species.

For example by:

• Managing and restoring the remnant pockets of lowland raised bog to ensure that they are actively sequestering and storing carbon, and seeking opportunities to manage land adjacent to the bogs to buffer these important habitats.
• Maintaining and restoring wetland habitats (including areas of lowland raised bog and peat deposits with high archaeological potential) through sympathetic management, to prevent degradation of the archaeological resource and to encourage people’s appreciation of the historic environment.
• Maintaining and restoring wetland habitats (including reedbeds and fens)
  – particularly on the subsidence flashes – by conserving their wildlife and historical interest. Providing opportunities for people to learn about and enjoy the natural and historic environment.
• Seeking opportunities to extend, link and buffer areas of wetland (such as reedbeds and wet pastures), to provide habitats for species such as breeding and overwintering waders and wildfowl, to enhance the landscape and to contribute to improved water quality.
• Managing and enhancing the network of wetland Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and local sites, to provide benefits to wildlife and to enable people to learn about and understand the natural environment.
• Managing and creating linear routes – especially river corridors and networks linking the many different waterbodies and wetland habitats – to improve ecological connectivity. Managing bankside vegetation and wetland habitats for species including water vole.
• Improving the quality of water within rivers and standing waterbodies: reducing nutrient and sediment runoff from agricultural land by establishing permanent grassland buffer strips along watercourses.
• Reducing contaminated runoff and discharges from roads, and from both past and present industrial processes, by establishing permanent vegetation (such as woodland) to trap sediments and nutrients, and encouraging the restoration of mineral spoil heaps to reduce runoff and pollution sources.
• Promoting the sustainable management of water, and investigating opportunities for the provision of alternative sustainable flood risk management measures (such as sustainable urban drainage systems).
• Seeking opportunities to increase water storage through the expansion of flood plains and flood storage, and using this opportunity to create wetland habitats such as wet grassland, wet woodlands and reedbeds.
• Seeking opportunities to naturalise watercourses, avoiding further development on flood plains and restoring these to more natural states where possible, enabling the creation and restoration of a range of wetland habitats. Buffering watercourses with habitats such as grasslands and woodlands, to improve infiltration and reduce the risk of soil erosion.
• Promoting sustainable recreational and educational opportunities that encourage appropriate access to water, as well as fostering an
  understanding of the importance of water to the fabric of the area, and the need for its sustainable management.

SEO 2

SEO 2: Conserve and manage the Lancashire Coal Measures’ geological features and historic environment, to safeguard the strong cultural identity and mining heritage of the area, with its distinctive sense of place and history. Engage local communities with their past through the restoration and enhancement of key features and sites, and by improving understanding, interpretation and access.

For example by:

• Protecting the area’s sense of place, and historical and cultural identity, by conserving the many mining heritage features and providing interpretations of the landscape, its history and its features.
• Conserving the geological and coal mining heritage of the area, including geological exposures and sites, and enhancing their value for interpretation possibilities, educational opportunities and visual amenity.
• Conserving, managing and interpreting the area’s historical and cultural identity – and in particular the town parks and green space, historic village cores, traditional buildings and farmsteads, and industrial housing and other features – to ensure a better understanding of the area’s past uses and to reinforce the historic character of the landscape.
• Seeking opportunities to raise awareness of and increase understanding of the local history and heritage of the area.
• Identifying key characteristic geological features – both within and outside designated sites – and keeping important geological exposures such as quarry faces visible and, where appropriate, accessible.
• Restoring and managing former industrial and mineral sites to provide opportunities to enhance biodiversity and the landscape, while ensuring that the legacy of the industrial heritage and geological significance of the Lancashire Coal Measures remains legible within the landscape.
• Seeking ways of improving the integration of restored industrial sites into the wider landscape, such as through tree and hedge planting that links with local hedgerow and woodland patterns.
• Restoring traditional farm buildings, field patterns, listed buildings, features associated with the area’s industrial past, and other buildings or artefacts of historical importance, as well as interpreting the area’s historical and cultural identity.
• Using the public rights of way and access network to allow communities to gain access to the area’s rich heritage and provide suitable interpretation to enhance their understanding and enjoyment.
• Supporting the development of the cultural heritage of the area – such as the ‘Dream’ sculpture in Bold Forest Park, and features like Billinge Hill – to benefit local communities.
• In all management activities, taking into account the archaeological potential of the area, and conserving and enhancing the historic structures and buildings.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Manage and support the agricultural landscape through conserving, enhancing, linking and expanding the habitat network (including grasslands, woodlands, ponds, hedges and field margins) – to increase connectivity and resilience to climate change, and reduce soil erosion and diffuse pollution, while conserving the qualities of the farmed landscape and improving opportunities for enjoyment of the open countryside.

For example by:

• Retaining open countryside between the industrial towns and villages to enhance the landscape, improve the connectivity of habitats between urban areas, and build a strong and resilient ecological network.
• Managing farmland to provide a mixed landscape of open fields, hedgerows, uncut grass and small woodland to benefit species such as farmland birds and brown hare, and to strengthen the landscape structure.
• Providing a year-round habitat for arable and farmland birds, consisting of mosaics of overwintered stubbles, spring-sown cereals, grass margins and extensively managed grasslands.
• Maintaining, restoring and expanding the patchwork of grassland habitats, SSSI and local sites (including lowland acid grassland and lowland meadows) to provide benefits for wildlife, and for people to learn about and understand the natural environment.
• Managing field ponds as stepping stones for wildlife and as habitats for species such as amphibians.
• Managing and strengthening the field patterns in agricultural areas by improving the condition of hedgerows, restoring their structure and species to provide habitats and corridors for wildlife, and to enhance local landscapes. Reinstating hedges to restore historic field patterns.
• Seeking opportunities to introduce species-rich grassland, pollen and nectar strips, and margins alongside arable field edges and watercourses within the agricultural landscape – to encourage and support pollinating insects, as well as to promote carbon sequestration and to address water quality issues.
• Working with the local farming community to encourage sustainable agricultural practices. Considering how food production can be managed sustainably – particularly in urban fringe and marginal areas – while enhancing agricultural land.
• Providing new educational access to allow interpretation of environmental gains, promoting an understanding of the relationships between farming, food and the public.
• Providing permissive access, upgrades to existing routes or educational access through for example, agri-environment schemes – to link areas of open access land, and improve opportunities for the enjoyment and understanding of the countryside.
• Managing and expanding the mosaic of woodland habitats (including ancient woodland) for multiple benefits, including wildlife and landscape value, climate change adaptation, improving water quality, providing links between urban areas and the countryside, increasing the sense of tranquillity and improving quality of life. Undertaking appropriate management for each woodland type to restore the diversity of the structure and species, to enhance biodiversity value and to improve carbon sequestration.
• Managing important linear routes that connect many different habitats (especially corridors provided by tracks and road verges, and also routes such as the Leeds and Liverpool Canal), strengthening the area’s
  biodiversity by enabling the movement of species, and providing improved opportunities for visitors to access, engage with and enjoy contact with their natural environment.

SEO 4

SEO 4: Expand and link green infrastructure through restoring and enhancing post-industrial sites and creating new habitat mosaics that raise the overall quality, design and location of new development, bringing multiple environmental benefits including functioning networks for wildlife and access and recreational amenities for people to enjoy.

For example by:

• Conserving and enhancing community woodlands, and planning to create new community woodlands within both the Mersey Forest and the Red Rose Forest, to increase the carbon storage potential of the area, enhance the landscape, strengthen biodiversity and improve water quality.
• Providing new access opportunities, where appropriate, and offering interpretation and educational experiences to increase visitors’ understanding and enjoyment of this environment, and to enhance quality of life.
• Taking opportunities to increase woodland cover, ensuring that these sites are chosen to enhance the local landscape character (in terms of typical scale, type and location), and that the legacy of the area’s industrial past remains legible within the landscape.
• Protecting the small but important remnants of ancient woodland.
• Including green infrastructure and biodiversity habitat (suited to the landscape type and site characteristics) within any new sustainable residential and commercial development. This will enhance the sense of place, assist with assimilating new development into the landscape and provide recreational opportunities.
• Incorporating sustainable urban drainage systems into new developments, to improve infiltration and manage surface water.
• Conserving and enhancing the network of Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) and country parks, to provide accessible local green space, as well as to provide opportunities for people to experience and learn about the natural environment. Encouraging people to volunteer to take an active role in the current and future management of these LNRs and country parks.
• Improving the management of small greens and parks within villages and towns.
• Conserving and restoring parks, and providing access to them, with interpretation.
• Seeking opportunities to provide more and better access to green spaces, especially within urban areas, so that communities can connect with their local environment. This has benefits for recreation, health, education and quality of life, as well as engaging people with culture, heritage and the arts.
• Improving access routes, and paths around villages and towns, to allow access to horse riders, cyclists and people with disabilities. This will improve opportunities for the enjoyment and understanding of the landscape. Managing suitable walking and cycling routes to include commuters and creating sustainable transport routes to link settlements.
• Ensuring that paths are maintained and well signposted, and that, at key locations, some surfaced paths are provided for use by all levels of ability and interest.