124 - Pevensey Levels : Analysis: Landscape Attributes & Opportunities

Analysis supporting Statements of Environmental Opportunity

The following analysis section focuses on the landscape attributes and opportunities for this NCA.

Further analysis on ecosytem services for this NCA is contained in the Analysis: Ecosytem Services section.

Landscape attributes

Open, low-lying reclaimed wetland, largely treeless and mainly under pasture with some arable on drier land.

Justification for selection:

• The open, largely treeless but productive landscape of today’s open marshland is a product of medieval and later drainage. This landscape is historically important as it reveals the story of the relatively recent land reclamation from marsh.
• Habitats can occur in a dynamic mosaic and are heavily influenced by both land management and the hydrological regime.
• The open wetland is a defining characteristic of the whole area.
• Occasional willows or thorns are often dramatically wind-sculpted.
• This quiet simple landscape, with wide skies, the cries of wetland birds and the sighing of the wind in the reeds can provide some of the most intense feelings of remoteness in south-east England.

Parks and gardens.

Justification for selection:

• Eastbourne has many parks including the 34 ha green and leafy Edwardian Hampden Park, the 13 ha Princes Park on the seafront and many smaller publicly accessible parks, gardens and squares.
• Eastbourne Park has created a renewed landscape of quiet pasture and large open stretches of water for the community to enjoy in the heart of town.

Water-filled ditches and dykes, forming a distinctive coastal floodplain landscape.

Justification for selection:

• Extensive networks of ditches and dykes form important connecting links between wetland habitats and in summer are vibrant with dragonflies and damselflies.
• Large main drainage channels support an important coarse fishery.
• Drainage ditches and banks divide fields, with channels forming barriers to grazing stock, creating a chequer-board pattern.

The coastline with its long sweeping stretches of shingle beach peppered with historic defensive features such as Martello towers.

Justification for selection:

• The beach forms a natural defence that helps protect the area from coastal flooding during storm events.
• Views extend several kilometres, interrupted in many places only by the historic Martello tower network.
• There is pressure from large developments along the coastline.
• Beyond the coastal towns, the beach provides a peaceful refuge, popular with recreational walkers.

Mature elm trees.

Justification for selection:

• East Sussex is one of the few places where large numbers of mature English elm trees can still be seen.
• Eastbourne has around 10,000 elms, about a quarter of which are on streets, creating, along with mature examples of other species, a surprisingly leafy feel to the urban landscape.

Landscape opportunities

• Ditches and watercourses are seen as features in the landscape and need careful management to maintain their fragile ecology. Management of the field boundary ditch system will reinforce the wetland character of the area.
• There are opportunities to promote utilisation and appreciation of the rich variety of historical features, including buried assets, for recreation and research.
• Proposed development and the flood mitigation role of Eastbourne Park provides opportunities to further extend the scope and quantity of important habitat, while providing high quality, accessible greenspace for the local community.
• Long views and open expansive un-wooded wetland is characteristic of the Levels and these need preserving by measures such as visually mitigating the impact of large structures, modern buildings and energy infrastructure which are highly visible in this flat landscape.
• Ensure ongoing access to and space for recreation and leisure activities, both along the coast and inland.
• Allow for natural processes to maintain a dynamic coastal landscape and maintain flood defences in line with the Shoreline Management Plan which ensures the existence of the NCA.