77 - North Norfolk Coast : 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: Conserve and enhance this dynamic, remote and inspiring coastal landscape with its internationally important interrelated habitats of shingle, sand dunes, salt marsh, reedbeds, lagoons and mudflats, while allowing for the dynamic coastal processes that are essential to the character of this area, managing coastal squeeze, and addressing the implications of sea level rise resulting from climate change.

For example by:

• Ensuring that the coastal features of the North Norfolk Coast remain a site of outstanding geomorphological importance and that they continue to provide both long-term and short-term bases for future
  study, particularly in regard to the marshes and salt marsh which are of international significance.
• Conserving the wild, open nature of the intricate mosaic of salt marsh, mudflats, lagoons, creeks and other intertidal habitats by working with landowners and the fishing community to deliver a landscape which will support conservation objectives within the protected sites and provide a financially sustainable livelihood for them.
• Identifying opportunities and mechanisms for, and promoting working with coastal processes to provide a coast protection function (for example, salt marsh creation in front of sea walls to capture carbon and the natural evolution of coastal vegetated shingle and sand dunes).
• Providing interpretational information for businesses and recreational providers about the dynamic processes under way along the coast, to help them to understand how fragile the habitats are and to ensure that visitors and local people act responsibly when visiting these sites.
• Protecting and improving the quality of intertidal and offshore waters in order to support the production of shellfish life and growth, thus contributing to high-quality shellfish products which are available for sale locally.
• Proactively pursuing realignment opportunities to allow managed adaptation to future climate change and ensure wider benefits where these can occur, and considering creating habitats inland to reduce the effect of coastal squeeze.
• Maintaining tidal flood warning infrastructure to ensure that an effective tidal flood warning service can be provided throughout the National Character Area (NCA).
• Encouraging voluntary groups and local people to help with monitoring the impact of human disturbance on little tern and ringed plover nesting sites and educating dog walkers and other recreational users about reducing their impacts on fragile habitat sites.
• Working in partnership across all sectors to deliver actions for a strong vision for the future coastline management while accepting managed transitions in character and habitat.
• Encouraging and supporting an increase in the proportion of wetland habitat with conversion from arable farmland to pasture, grazing marsh and wetland to encourage a more natural shifting mosaic of habitats.
• Conserving the integrity of active and relict landforms as products of present and past processes through development planning constraints and positive conservation management, continuing to research, monitor and record geomorphological processes, to improve our understanding of them and to inform management decisions.

SEO 2

SEO 2: Plan for and sustainably manage high visitor numbers to the North Norfolk Coast, particularly access to the sea and the National Nature Reserves, while recognising common rights and maintaining a living working landscape, reducing congestion on the rural roads and protecting the tranquillity and beauty which are valued by visitors and local residents.

For example by:

• Conserving and maintaining the high levels of tranquillity, remoteness and beauty that are associated with the area by sustainably managing the level and type of tourism infrastructure developed along the coast road or in the rest of the NCA by establishing a visitor travel plan for the NCA which can identify opportunities for traffic management to reduce the impact of traffic congestion, rationalise car parking and encourage low-impact travel.
• Reviewing the zoning of fragile sites for visitors in line with the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Visitor Management Plan to
  ensure that co-ordinated promotional material is used which contains educational messages and travel information for visitors; and considering limiting the number of visitors allowed into certain protected sites during the breeding season in order to increase the number of rare ground- nesting birds that are able to breed, such as little tern and ringed plover.
• Protecting the tranquil character of the area and avoiding intrusion into the most rural areas, and exploring opportunities for responsible tourism and voluntary ‘visitor pay back’ to ensure that pressure is reduced on the fragile coastal habitats, nesting birds and seal colonies.
• Enhancing the public transport network in the NCA by working with partners across all sectors to support the Coasthopper bus service to ensure that
  it can be used by locals and visitors and to make stronger links with the Community Rail Partnership to promote sustainable travel in the area.
• Improving access to the coast for walking, cycling and disabled people through the sustainable use of old railway lines, tracks and paths and encouraging reduced car use. Securing opportunities for the public to enjoy the natural environment through the implementation of the England Coast Path whilst ensuring appropriate protection of it.
• Exploring opportunities for sustainable tourism initiatives that can increase locals’ and visitors’ environmental awareness and encourage businesses to develop their ecological credentials, while working together to protect the special qualities of the area.
• Ensuring promotion of access opportunities educates people about the vulnerability of the coastal habitats in the NCA and encourages visits of a low-impact nature which avoid any adverse impacts on agricultural management, landscape, habitats and wildlife.
• Identifying additional linkages which could be created between existing public footpaths including the Norfolk Coast Path National Trail, existing permissive access routes and settlements, communities, amenities, transport links and natural public green space in areas of need as identified in access maps.
• Creating new quality areas to meet the high demand for people to walk their dogs’ off-lead, away from traffic and close to communities, and working with dog owners to promote the Countryside Code and encouraging that they keep their dogs on a lead when walking in protected coastal sites.
• Encourage securing resources to sustainably manage visitor numbers and congestion.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Conserve, manage and increase understanding of an area which is rich in archaeological, historical and cultural heritage, offers wildness and inspiration, wide open views, beauty, a rich mosaic of wildlife habitats and seascapes of international importance, and is a cherished place to live and to visit.

For example by:

• Protecting and appropriately managing the historic environment for its contribution to local character and sense of identity and as a framework for habitat restoration and sustainable development.
• Improving the condition of heritage assets through appropriate measures and seeking to reduce conflicting or unsympathetic management regimes while recognising the high potential in this landscape for undiscovered remains, particularly along the coastal marshes and fringe.
• Raising awareness of the value of the rich archaeological and maritime history associated with the area and the strong links to agricultural improvement and fishing.
• Working with landowners and businesses to ensure that historic landscape features are conserved and enhanced and are not at risk of degradation, and seeking to protect the most significant sites.
• Using understanding of the area’s traditional and historic architecture and its distinct patterns of settlement to inform appropriate conservation and use of historic buildings, and to plan for and inspire any environmentally beneficial new development which makes a positive contribution to local character.
• Promoting the use of traditional building materials for repair of historic buildings and for new developments where this would be appropriate, to enhance the character of the local area.
• Conserving the rural character of farm buildings which are exceptionally prominent in the wider farmland landscape by ensuring that any change of use to isolated farm buildings reduces gentrification and instead enhances rural heritage and landscape character.
• Encouraging farmers, the fishing community and game producers to promote their products and the links that their food has to the NCA to build a sustainable local brand.
• Reinstating and promoting traditional reedbed management and sympathetic rotational management of existing ditches in flood plain arable, grazing marsh and arable reversion areas.
• Conserving and maintaining local features of cultural heritage importance, such as staithes, quays and boat mooring rubbing posts, and raising awareness of the value of the rich archaeology and historic time depth associated with this.
• Restoring and conserving vernacular buildings to ensure that they are sympathetic to and in keeping with local landscape character.
• Identifying and realising opportunities to conserve and enhance the outstanding natural and scenic beauty of the area in the Norfolk Coast AONB Management Plan.
• Managing arable farmland to enhance its biodiversity value, conserve water resources and adapt to climate change, by establishing arable field margins as potential nest sites for ground-nesting birds and habitats for small mammals and maintaining and restoring wet grassland for wintering/breeding waders and wintering wildfowl.
• Restoring dune stacks at Holkham and Holme to ensure that there is a succession of dune slacks at different stages of re-colonisation to provide a habitat for rare natterjack toads and other dune slack species.
• Protecting and expanding areas of species-rich salt marsh, improving its structure and stability and promoting the reversion of arable land back to coastal wetland (reedbeds, grazing marsh and intertidal habitat where appropriate) so that it can gradually become a more natural, shifting mosaic of habitats.
• Conserving, restoring and preventing further loss of hedgerows and hedgerow trees, and replanting them as necessary to strengthen the landscape pattern and encourage greater birdlife and wildlife.
• Encouraging and supporting an increase in the proportion of wetland habitat with conversion from arable farmland to pasture, grazing marsh and wetland so that the coastal marshes provide more diverse food production which can be sold locally.
• Promoting good soil management on farms to improve infiltration of rainwater into agricultural land and reduce pollution through fertiliser and pesticide use, seeking opportunities for the more efficient use of natural water sources, such as through rainwater harvesting to support business and residential use and decreasing pressure on surface and groundwater abstractions.
• Commissioning research to understand the importance of freshwater flows in maintaining salinity gradients to support rare plants and species that are listed as Site of Special Scientific Interest and Ramsar features.

SEO 4

SEO 4: Seek to maintain and enhance the distinctive and internationally important intertidal habitat and inshore waters which provide examples of rare geodiversity, estuarine habitat and species and important cultural, historic and economic resources which are valued by local communities.

For example by:

• Maintaining and enhancing the geological resource through the maintenance of natural coastal processes, the development of local geological conservation strategies and the assessment of the educational and research value of new sites.
• Improving understanding of the historic development of the coastal marshes and their exploitation by local communities.
• Promoting both the national and locally important geological resource through assessment and promotion of sites of educational value and on- site interpretation, including promotion of the influence of geology on local habitats and landscape.
• Identifying opportunities for geodiversity enhancement which might develop from a policy of managed realignment and re-naturalisation of sea defences.
• Encouraging sustainable methods of fishing for shellfish and fish.
• Supporting the designation of Cromer chalk reef as a Marine Conservation Zone and Marine Protection Area.
• Considering the introduction of a new licensing scheme for common rights access after consultation with stakeholders for protected and vulnerable habitats in order to prevent commercialisation of traditional and culturally important resources.
• Encouraging and managing responsible recreational use so as to minimise dune and salt marsh erosion and disturbance to nesting birds and seals, while increasing the understanding of the coastal landscape.
• Considering enhancing the appearance of Wells-next-the-Sea from the marshlands adjacent to it by appropriate design, colour of materials and the need for retention of existing trees, hedges and landscaping to prevent new ‘hard edges’ or to address existing and inappropriate hard edges to settlement.
• Selectively promoting sites which are able to accommodate and manage visitors effectively, to reduce recreational pressure on key wildlife habitats.