89 - Northamptonshire Vales : Natural Capital and Key Ecosystem Services

Introduction

The Northamptonshire Vales 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 Northamptonshire Vales 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:
 

• 1: Bedfordshire
• 4: Cambridgeshire
• 22: Leicestershire and Rutland
• 30: Nottinghamshire

Provisioning services (food, fibre and water supply)

Water availability: There are a large number of main rivers in the NCA, including the River Welland, the Eye Brook, the River Nene, Harpers Brook, the River Ise and the River Tove. There are no major aquifers in the NCA. The upper River Welland and its tributaries (which include the Eye Brook) have a Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) ‘over-abstracted’ status (The Welland Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy, Environment Agency, 2007). The River Nene is an important source of water for public water supply, supplying water to fill and maintain both the Pitsford and the Rutland reservoirs (both located outside this NCA). The River Nene and its main tributaries (the River Ise and Harpers Brook) have an ‘over-licensed’ CAMS status (The Nene Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy, Environment Agency, 2005). 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 soil erosion: The majority of the soils in this NCA are at risk of erosion. The soils in the NCA fall broadly into three categories with regard to erosion characteristics: soils with impeded drainage; freely draining soils; and seasonally wet/flood plain soils. There is also potential for wind erosion on some coarse- textured cultivated variants of the freely draining, slightly acid loamy soils.

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: The majority of the NCA is located within the River Nene catchment. The River Nene has a history of flooding. Flood risk in the NCA is generally caused by high rainfall that has led to watercourses and drains being overwhelmed, flood defences overtopped or raised embankments breached.

Cultural services (inspiration, education and wellbeing)

Sense of place/inspiration: Sense of place is provided by a series of low- lying, gentle clay vales and river valleys, including the rivers Nene and Welland and their tributaries, with major sand and gravel deposits. Many of these areas have been extensively excavated, especially along the Nene Valley, resulting in a new wetland landscape that supports a fantastic wildlife resource, especially the bird population. Strong patterns of Tudor and Parliamentary enclosures with hedgerows surround a mix of pasture and arable land. Nevertheless, this is a landscape dominated by the urban areas of Northampton and Wellingborough and their associated urban fringe developments, and the smaller towns of Rushden, Raunds and Oundle, characterised by red brick buildings, with attractive stone buildings common in older villages and in the buildings of larger country estates with their prominent parklands. Settlements are never very far away and the church spires and towers are one of the more prominent features of rural areas

Sense of history: The history of the landscape is evident in the area’s long history of occupation. Cropmarks and remnant ridge-and-furrow and other earthworks are found alongside historic sites, including the complex of medieval structures at Fotheringhay. Northampton was a significant Viking settlement and strategic site marked by its castle, growing rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries as a result of the leather industry. Red brick construction, with limestone and use of render, is typical of the area, both in the older village cores and in the more regimented terraces of the area’s industrial towns and villages. Other key historic features include a network of Roman roads and the Grand Union Canal, with features dating from the Industrial Revolution onwards. Aspects of history likely to be most evident to the general public include the estates of Castle Ashby, Elton Hall and Milton Hall, as well as the large churches and church spires of the area.

Recreation: Recreation is supported by the area’s 1,178-kilometre rights of way network (with a density of 1.3 km per km) as well as a small area of open access land totalling just over 14 ha (0.01 per cent of the NCA). Stanwick Lakes is a very large wildlife and water-based recreation site that has been recognised as an award-winning green infrastructure development. The Sywell Reservoir and Country Park is also a popular local attraction. Other areas of recreational interest include Ecton Brook Linear Park, which has picnic areas along its length; and East Carlton Country Park. Many of the country parks are formed from the disused gravel extraction sites.

Biodiversity: This NCA is increasing and expanding its wetland habitats through reclaiming gravel pits and working with farmers to restore areas around gravel pits. The Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits were designated as an SPA in 2011 in recognition of a water bird assemblage that includes non-breeding great bittern, gadwall and European golden plover. The rivers and associated habitats also provide regional ecosystem services. Work continues through the Nene Valley Nature Improvement Area and other local projects to re-create and re-connect natural areas.