82 - Suffolk Coast and Heaths : 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: Manage the nationally significant coastal landscapes, ensuring that coastal management decisions take full account of landscape, environmental and visual impacts as part of an integrated approach working with coastal processes. Improve people’s understanding of the process of coastal change.

For example by:

• Supporting the Estuary Partnerships in establishing a programme of community engagement, to explain the vulnerability of the National Character Area to coastal change and the interdependence between coastal erosion and a naturally functioning Identify local concerns and aspirations to inform adaptation planning and encourage and promote local volunteering opportunities to further public engagement with the natural environment.
• In line with the Shoreline Management Plan 7, working in partnership to ensure that dynamic coastal processes continue to provide a coast protection function (for example, salt marsh creation in front of sea walls and natural evolution of coastal vegetated shingle and sand dunes) to enhance important habitats, the quality of the coastal landscape and natural coastal defence features.
• Delivering climate change and coastal change adaptation measures, through habitat enhancement and creation, managed realignment and habitat replacement where This will be necessary where flood defences are currently inadequate and further defence work may result in losses to existing wetlands. Use the ecosystems services approach to develop wider understanding of the operation of natural processes.
• Ensuring that the coastal habitats, in particular vegetated shingle and coastal dunes, are conserved and protected from damage by recreational pressure, so that they continue to function as a natural coastal flood Develop a strategy for coastal public access management, to protect coastal habitats.
• Raising awareness and improving the quality of understanding and enjoyment of the sensitive habitats and wildlife (for example, coastal heathlands, salt marsh, vegetated shingle and little tern nesting sites), through working in partnership with the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Estuary Partnerships and through clear signposting and interpretation.
• Facilitating community adaptation to coastal change, seeking new opportunities for access enhancements to the coast, estuaries and river valley flood plains and planning for the effects on local features of cultural heritage importance, including archaeological sites, such as Dunwich and Covehithe.
• Promoting and enhancing land management practices that help to restore natural features and support the active processes of the water environment that absorb floods and are beneficial for the rural economy and biodiversity (for example, reversion of flood plain arable land to grazing marsh and fen).

SEO 2

SEO 2: Manage the components of characteristic productive agricultural landscapes to benefit food production, biodiversity and soil and water quality. Promote sustainable farming practices that are able to adapt to changing agricultural economics, the considerable challenges of climate change and water availability.

For example by:

• Working with landowners and partners to encourage sustainable farming practices and the diversification of cropping and livestock to assist adaptation to climate change, while restoring the connectivity of key habitats (especially lowland heaths and dry acid grassland) and enhancing the management of afforested land.
• Encouraging increased uptake of agri-environment schemes and options that improve soil quality and water infiltration (for example, cultivated margins) as well as supporting and increasing populations of farmland birds (for example, yellowhammer and tree sparrow) and rare arable weeds.
• Encouraging farmers to protect watercourses from water quality deterioration, reducing diffuse pollution by encouraging soil management improvements and the uptake of beneficial agri-environment schemes and Ensure compliance with regulations on nitrate vulnerable zones to manage fertiliser inputs.
• Working in partnership with farmers to encourage the uptake of and appropriate design and sensitive siting of new on-farm water storage, which will help to reduce the impacts of water abstraction and enhance biodiversity and landscape character.
• Encouraging new woodland creation on appropriate sites to improve soil quality and water infiltration, increase shading and help to prevent wind blow of light soils to reducing diffuse pollution, create wildlife habitats, sequester carbon, and eventually to provide income through sustainably produced timber.
• Enhancing the management of wetland habitats including wet pasture, coastal grazing marsh, fens and reedbeds. Carefully manage water availability and quality to achieve favourable ecological condition and secure their natural and cultural value.
• Ensuring that land management practices maintain and where necessary improve the condition of the Sites of Special Scientific Interest as well as continuing to conserve the wildlife species associated with the five Special Protection Areas and three National Nature Reserves.
• Reconnecting rivers to their flood plains where appropriate, to provide ecological and accessible green infrastructure networks at a landscape scale. Increase the use of river valleys and coastal wetlands for the storage of floodwaters, facilitating aquifer recharge and restoring and creating new habitats.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Increase and enhance public awareness and enjoyment of the distinctive assemblage of historic landscapes. Sustainably manage the agricultural, semi-natural, geological and rich archaeological and historic environment, as well as seeking opportunities for more integrated access to support recreation and education, while protecting the area’s wildlife habitats and tranquillity.

For example by:

• Facilitating the ability of viable agricultural businesses to undertake tailored agricultural and conservation management, to achieve a range of landscape enhancements such as the restoration of the historic Sandlings sheepwalk landscapes connected with arable enclosure, of traditional river valley pastoral landscapes and of acid grasslands where conversion to arable use has occurred.
• Managing woodland and hedgerow networks, including restoration of relict hedge-lines in prominent areas using locally distinctive species (elm in the north, Scots pine lines on the Deben Peninsula and holly on the Shotley Peninsula) to strengthen the historic landscape pattern, increase visual diversity and benefit habitat connectivity.
• Seeking to conserve important local geological features and enhance public understanding of geological and geomorphological resources (for example, exposures of Crag, sands, gravels and till).
• Promoting links between geological sites, archaeological evidence of human activity and the biological interest of these areas to achieve wider public understanding and enjoyment.
• Conserving historic parklands and estate lands, with their important veteran trees, located on the Sandlings/Clay divide (for example, Glemham, Somerleyton and Benacre Halls) and those associated with estuaries and forming a key characteristic of valley sides, in particular focusing on the continuity of the mature and veteran tree resource in the parklands and in the surrounding landscape.
• Maintaining and promoting the key physical and cultural elements that provide local identity, amenity and aesthetic value (for example, distinctive medieval and post-medieval timber-framed buildings and the use of colour-wash render), while allowing the landscape to continue to evolve and reflect the interactions between people and the environment.
• Promoting sustainable tourism, such as access to visitor attractions via green infrastructure networks, including cycling (for example, the Rendlesham Cycle Trail), walking (for example, the Sandlings Walk) and other sustainable transport options such as Coastlink – a bookable ‘taxi/ people carrier’ service – to improve health and wellbeing and enjoyment of the environment, while supporting the local economy.
• Managing visitor pressures at popular and sensitive sites by investing in high-quality infrastructure and Ensure that new infrastructure meets the different needs and levels of use of a range of visitors (for example, local communities, recreational day visitors and tourists) without being the cause of damage or degradation of natural assets.

SEO 4

SEO 4: Manage the forest plantations, to combine commercial forestry and fuel production with a mix of habitats for rare and endangered plants and animals, enhancing both their capability as a strategic recreational resource and their role in climate change adaptation and regulation.

For example by:

• Understanding and balancing the different needs for commercial timber/fuel production, wildlife and public access to ensure that a sustainable integrated management approach is taken.
• Ensuring continued careful planning of felling and other woodland management to retain the variety of different woodland structures and transitions to lowland heath and woodland-edge habitats, for internationally important populations of woodlark and nightjar and rare and declining plants and invertebrates.
• Exploring the potential for new woodland types, including species more resilient to the potential challenges of climate change and new tree diseases.
• Ensuring careful management of the Sandlings Forests, helping to secure and enhance ecological networks and improving the recreational experience for visitors.
• Managing and mitigating the risk of potential widespread fires within the heathland and forest landscapes, guarding against the loss of life and property as well as damage to internationally significant habitats and local extinction of species.
• Encouraging the reinstatement of active management of existing farmland woodlands where they have been neglected, to strengthen the historic landscape Where appropriate, exploit commercial opportunities for resulting wood fuel and shooting.
• Encouraging local farm businesses to increase appropriate-scale generation of heat, utilising woody biomass for woodchip boilers, where it is sustainable to do This will in turn bring further opportunities for improved woodland management, while being mindful of locally valued landscape characteristics and sensitive habitats and species.
• Increasing the recreational benefits afforded by the Sandlings Forests, optimising the value of this currently under-utilised and extensive recreational asset, diverting pressure away from areas where biodiversity is adversely affected by public access.

Additional opportunity 1

Additional opportunity 1: Encourage measures which lead to the enhancement of existing settlements and the design and location of new developments and infrastructure. Provide wider associated social and cultural benefits through the provision and management of high-quality green infrastructure networks.

For example by:

• Creating new multifunctional landscapes and habitats and extending at appropriate scales existing networks that are in character with the area and contribute to biodiversity through green infrastructure planning (for example, through delivery of the Haven Gateway Green Infrastructure Strategy).
• Working with partners to put in place the recommendations from the Haven Gateway Water Cycle Study, to ensure that water resources and flood risk management issues can be addressed in a sustainable way, to accommodate future planned growth.
• Conserving and appropriately managing the area’s sense of place within the built environment and using this understanding, and the area’s traditional settlement patterns, to plan for and inspire new development, particularly around Ipswich.
• Ensuring that high-quality green infrastructure is considered in all new build projects, encouraging developers and planners to consider this aspect at the outset of scheme design with the aim of promoting space for wildlife and outdoor recreation.
• Promoting the use of traditional building materials in building restoration or new development, where this would be appropriate to enhance the local character (for example, Coralline Crag ‘rock bed’, soft- hued red bricks and render painted in traditional colours).
• Protecting the unique characteristics of the coastal towns from inappropriate development (for example, Southwold, Aldeburgh and Walberswick).
• Ensuring that local development frameworks recognise the importance of conserving and enhancing the landscape to help to reduce the likelihood of negative impacts from new developments.
• Working in partnership with the holiday and leisure businesses to encourage best practice to ensure that measures are taken to control light and noise pollution in order to protect areas with high levels of tranquillity. This is particularly important within the AONB.
• Supporting the use of historic and landscape characterisations to inform change, and encouraging their use in community-based planning to help to identify locally valued townscapes, rural landscapes and heritage assets.
• Investigating ways of securing better management of heritage assets which contribute to the character of the area, particularly those which have been identified as ‘heritage at risk’.