86 - South Suffolk and North Essex Clayland : Natural Capital and Key Ecosystem Services

Introduction

The South Suffolk and North Essex Clayland 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 South Suffolk and North Essex Clayland 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:
 

• 4: Cambridgeshire
• 13: Essex
• 19: Hertfordshire
• 36: Suffolk

Provisioning services (food, fibre and water supply)

Food provision: Some 84 per cent of the land area is farmed, with the widespread chalky clay soils (mostly Grades 2 and 3) supporting predominantly arable farming with large areas of cereals and oilseed rape. The area also provides dairy products and sugar beet, with peas, fruit farms and market gardening on areas of lighter land. Livestock farming includes pigs, poultry, sheep and lowland cattle. Value-added food producers (for example, organic producers, pork butchers and brewers) cluster around urban areas such as Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich (Bury St Edmunds, Big Barn), as do several ‘pick your own’ farms.

Water availability: The major underground chalk aquifer is overlain by London Clay, which confines the chalk aquifer, restricting the flow of groundwater in and out. These are overlain by locally important sand and gravel minor aquifers. Groundwater resources within the chalk aquifer are currently committed, and new groundwater abstraction applications are only considered from drift deposits. Groundwater and surface water river abstractions are primarily for public water supply for the major areas of population (for example Ipswich, Chelmsford, Braintree, Bury St Edmunds and the Harlow/Stansted corridor). Agricultural use for spray irrigation to support food production is also a high user. The highest priority catchments in terms of water abstraction control include the Stour, the Colne and the Gipping. During low flow conditions, the rivers Stour and Pant/Blackwater can have their flows increased through the Ely Ouse to Essex Transfer Scheme. This maintains flows at a level that is high enough to protect the natural ecology of the system without restricting abstraction for public water supply (The Combined Essex Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy, Environment Agency, 2007). The River Stour is further supported by the Stour Augmentation Groundwater Scheme. The requirement for these schemes highlights the scarcity of water in the area, with Essex being a net importer of water to meet the needs of its population. For information regarding the current state of water availability within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Abstraction Licensing Strategy).

Genetic diversity: The Large Black Pig, the rarest historic pig breed and one of the oldest in Britain, is associated with the area. It is considered by some to be the fourth member of the Suffolk Trinity (Suffolk Punch horse, Black Faced Sheep and Red Poll cattle), all of which can be found in the area. Herds of Red Poll cattle graze Hatfield Forest, with sheep (Speckled Faced Beulah, Wiltshire Horn and Manx Loaghtan) used as ‘conservation grazers’. Rare breeds are kept in the north-east at the Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm. Breeds include Norfolk Horn, Greyface Dartmoor, Balwen, Llanwenog, Herdwick and Ouessant sheep; White Park cattle; Pygmy and Golden Guernsey goats; and Middle White and Berkshire pigs. Remnant traditional orchards provide a genetic stock of old local fruit varieties including Red Miller’s Seedling, St Edmunds Russet, Honey Pippin, Clopton Red, Maxton, Maclean’s Favourite, Catherine, Suffolk Styles Pippin and Sturmer Pippin apples, and Coe’s Golden Drop gage.

Regulating services (water purification, air quality maintenance and climate regulation)

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 A large number of rivers drain the clay plateau, their natural flows increased by flood plain drainage and increasing amounts of non-permeable surfacing within settlements. During low flow conditions, the rivers Stour and Pant/Blackwater can have their flows recharged through the Ely Ouse to Essex Transfer Scheme. The River Stour is further supported by the Stour Augmentation Groundwater Scheme. Woodlands, hedgerows, flood plain wet fen-type habitats, grazing marsh and riparian vegetation all contribute to this service by holding water within the system.

Chelmsford is currently at a high risk from flooding, although some protection is provided by its ageing flood alleviation scheme. Braintree, Great Dunmow and Bocking are at risk from the rivers Blackwater and Chelmer. The Mid Colne and River Stour present a flood risk in villages including Bures, Bures St Mary, White Colne and Chappel. A combination of flood banks, a bypass channel on the River Stour and a flood storage area upstream of Halstead has reduced the flood risk (North Essex Catchment Flood Management Plan Summary Report, Environment Agency, 2009). Meldham Washlands flood alleviation scheme on the River Stour provides a high standard of protection to Haverhill, and the creation of flood storage lagoons as at Sible Hedingham eases flood risk further downstream. The River Gipping has the potential to flood parts of western Ipswich, although a flood alleviation scheme at Stowmarket helps to reduce the risk both in Stowmarket and Ipswich (East Suffolk Catchment Abstraction Management Plan Summary Report, Environment Agency, 2009).

Cultural services (inspiration, education and wellbeing)

Sense of place/inspiration: A strong sense of place is provided by the underlying Chalk geology that influences the calcareous nature of many of the soils and much of the vegetation character. The many steep-sided, small-scale, intimate river valleys, along with their mixed land use patterns, contribute to the archetypal English countryside character. Small woodlands linked by large hedgerows along ridgelines create a wooded character. Large, ornate churches, timber-frame buildings often rendered and colour-washed, with pegtiles or long straw thatch, either as scattered farmsteads or as whole streets in well- preserved medieval villages or towns (such as Kersey and Lavenham), also contribute to the strong sense of place.
Feelings of inspiration are associated with the strong historic character of the medieval settlements, while the surrounding landscape with its wide views, open skies and unspoilt rural tranquillity has provided inspiration for many artists, including John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough and, more recently, Cedric Morris and John Nash.

Sense of history: The many historical assets, clearly visible throughout this landscape, provide a strong sense both of history and of how the landscape has developed over time. These include Roman roads, medieval villages such as the Rodings, Norman castles, ruined abbeys and ancient woodlands, including the unique Hatfield Forest. The magnificent ‘wool’ churches (as at Long Melford and Lavenham) and country houses with historic parklands (such as Audley End, Kentwell Hall and Ickworth) illustrate past wealth.

Some rivers, including the Gipping, Stour and Stort, have an industrial past revealed by historic navigation locks and water mills. The area’s wartime importance remains visible, with numerous Second World War airstrips, some of which are still used for flying while others are just remnants alongside hangars and pillboxes. Distinctive historic features include close- grained medieval enclosures, medieval moated farmsteads, villages around ‘tyes’ (commons) or strip greens, historical barns, and small medieval towns such as Lavenham, Finchingfield, Cavendish and Thaxted, which contain many Grade I Listed Buildings in the vernacular style. The Dedham Vale AONB, a preserved archetypal lowland pastoral English countryside, with its strong association with John Constable, and the 20th-century new towns of the south-west, such as Harlow, provide further, strongly contrasting historical elements.

Recreation: The NCA offers a network of rights of way totalling 6,375 km, as well as a small amount of open access land covering 3,628 ha. Large numbers of tourists and day-trippers are attracted to the ‘honeypot’ destinations of the Dedham Vale and the picturesque ‘wool’ towns such as Lavenham, together with popular access routes such as the Stour Valley Path, the Stort Valley Way, the Essex Way and the Flitch Way. Key green space and heritage venues are popular all year round with visitors and locals, and include Hatfield Forest, which has many miles of walks; the Colne Valley heritage railway; Stowmarket’s Museum of East Anglian Life; Hedingham Castle; Audley End in Uttlesford; and Ickworth House near Bury St Edmunds. Water recreation opportunities are available on the River Stour Navigation and Chelmer Navigation reservoirs and are popular with locals.