Memorandum submitted by the National Trust
(Appendix 13)
SUMMARY
1. The Natural Environment and Rural Communities
Bill has the potential to help introduce a genuinely fresh and
integrated approach to sustainable land management and the protection
of natural resources for the benefit of the public and for their
own sake. The National Trust welcomes its publication and the
opportunity to contribute to the Committee's pre-legislative scrutiny.
Our evidence highlights six main issues:
The importance of DEFRA publishing
a strong and coherent policy framework for natural resource protection
which provides a context for the operation of the proposed new
Integrated Agency and taking forward the Rural Strategythis
is a striking gap in DEFRA's suite of strategies which exist for
each of its four other strategic priorities. The resource protection
strategy needs to be backed by a clearer political vision and
develop the rather weak policy statement that accompanies the
draft Bill. It also needs a clear framework of national environmental
objectives supported by targets audited independently by the new
Integrated Agency.
The need to strengthen the Agency's
general purpose and remove potential confusion over the priority
and importance attached to its different responsibilities for
wildlife, landscape, access, learning and management of the natural
environment. We particularly urge, on the basis of the experience
of our own statutory provisions, that the Agency be charged with
a general purpose to "promote" the natural environment.
Gaps in the Integrated Agency's responsibilities
for the historic and cultural environment and education and the
need for clarity over its role in relation to "quiet enjoyment".
The importance of a strong regional
dimension to the work of both the Integrated Agencywhich
should be the environmental equivalent to Regional Development
Agencies' economic roleand the Commission for Rural Communitieswhich
will struggle to gain credibility without an effective regional
presence.
Concerns over the resources and powers
available to the proposed Commission for Rural Communities which
risks playing only a limited rural-proofing role and not realising
the expectations of the Rural Strategy.
Concerns over constraints on the
international activity of the Integrated Agency in relation to
nature conservation and JNCC.
(1) THE NATIONAL
TRUST
2. The National Trust is a charity with
over 3.4 million members and 40,000 volunteers that works to promote
the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of England,
Wales and Northern Ireland for the benefit of the nation. The
land in our care extends to over 250,000 hectares and includes
the nation's largest farmed estate. We conserve over 1,100km of
coastline and offer free access to 820 square kilometres of countryside.
We have 50 million visits to our coast and countryside properties
annually and are one of the largest out of school classrooms with
over 500,000 educational visits by schoolchildren. We are responsible
for nearly 10% of the nation's Sites of Special Scientific Interest
and Common Land.
3. The Trust has played an active role in
the development of the Government's Rural Strategy and subsequently
the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill. We were members
of Lord Haskins' Sounding Board, helping to shape his report on
rural delivery to Government. Since publication, we have focussed
on developing the role, function and policy context for the proposed
Integrated Agency and helped to facilitate stakeholder engagement
with the voluntary sector. We are members of the DEFRA stakeholder
group on the Integrated Agency and DEFRA's Modernising Rural Delivery
Strategic Reference Group.
4. Our evidence is informed by research
into the international and domestic experience of institutional
delivery for integrated approaches to the natural environment.
This work confirms the innovative nature of the proposed Agency
as an arms-length body addressing the natural environment in an
integrated way. We have also undertaken a comparison of the legislation
with existing bodies' powers and functions. Further information
on this research is available on request.
5. In many respects the National Trust Acts
provide one of the few existing legislative precedents for an
organisation charged with combining conservation and access to
bring in perpetuity benefits for the nation. We address the relevance
of our own statutory provisions below in our recommendations for
strengthening of the Integrated Agency's purpose.
(2) A PARADIGM
SHIFT IN
LAND AND
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
6. The Trust urges the Committee to recognise
the potential of the draft Bill to help introduce a fresh and
integrated approach to sustainable land management and the protection
of natural resources. We have a unique opportunity to modernise
the way we manage the natural and cultural resources of our land
and seas. New policy drivers, changes to institutional frameworks
and profound environmental trends require and enable us to adopt
a new and integrated approach to sustainable land management.
Increasingly, domestic and European policy requires us to manage
land and resources at a much more ecologically relevant and locally
sensitive scale, most recently through the Water Framework Directive's
integrated river basin management plans. Our domestic political
and institutional frameworks have evolved too. Devolution, a new
localism, the growth in corporate responsibility and a highly
active voluntary sector gives the Government much greater flexibility
to develop and implement policy more creatively, effectively and
efficiently to ensure sustained provision of public benefits by
a broad range of partners. A summary of this new approach is provided
in Annex 1 setting out the Trust's ambitions for an integrated
approach to "sustainable land management". This approach
should suffuse the legislation, policy and political debate around
the new Agency.
7. The Trust's main concern is the lack
of a strategic policy framework to integrate the protection and
management of natural resources, including wildlife, landscape,
access, soil and water. Without this, the Integrated Agency will
be compromised by having to work with the siloed policies of the
past. In effect, it will be a new delivery body without policy
objectives to deliver. It will also undermine confidence in the
level of Government commitment to an integrated approach. This
is why we firmly believe a strategy for natural resource protection
is essential to give the Integrated Agency, as well as partners
like the Trust and water companies, a forward-looking policy agenda
that facilitates positive land management change. This will also
help realise the benefits of CAP reform, meet Water Framework
Directive requirements and enable adaptation to significant pressures
such as climate change. A resource protection strategy is the
missing part of DEFRA's policy jigsaw, as the "protection
of natural resources" is the only one of its five strategic
priorities without a strategy.
8. Our analysis of international experience
in this field also points to the need for complementary measures
to ensure the potential of the new Agency will be fully realised.
Sweden's Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) is probably the
closest equivalent to the UK's conservation NDPBs and its work
is delivered in the context of:
A statutory Environmental Code which
brings together all environmental legislation and provides a means
of implementing EU Regulations and Directives.
Fifteen Environmental Quality Objectives
adopted by Parliament and underpinned by quantified targets and
clear auditing and evaluation requirements. These go well beyond
the UK's current sustainable development indicators and address
issues such as landscape which have no legislative basis or performance
measure in the UK They are also monitored and reported independently
of the Government.
A formal role for SEPA in evaluating
progress in achieving the Environmental Quality Targets.
(3) INTEGRATED
AGENCY
9. The Trust believes the Government needs
to be bold in realising the potential of the new Integrated Agency
to deliver a "fresh approach" to the natural environment.
The Agency needs convincingly to integrate all aspects of the
natural environment with a strong "people" focus, and
to show quickly that it can deliver more than the sum of its previous
parts. It also needs to provide intelligent, independent advice
to DEFRA and the rest of Government. We therefore welcomed the
Secretary of State's announcement following publication of the
Rural Strategy and the draft Bill's confirmation of NDPB status.
10. The Agency presents a unique opportunity
both to advance policy thinking and improve delivery to a diverse
customer base in both urban and rural areas. The Trust believes
the Agency has exciting potential to make real and lasting connections
between people's health and wellbeing and the quality and accessibility
of their environment, on their doorstep and in their wider world,
and to increase respect for and understanding of the intrinsic
value of the natural world.
11. The main challenges are to build on
the strengths and successes of English Nature, the Countryside
Agency and the Rural Development Service, which on the whole have
done a good job; to maintain momentum in a period of dynamic policy
change; and, most importantly, to grasp fully the opportunities.
12. We illustrate the potential of a more
integrated approach to management and protection of natural resources
in three case studiesWicken Fen, the Cutler Catchment and
the High Peak. These are summarised in Annex 2 and demonstrate
the economic, social and environmental benefits of a more integrated
approach.
(a) General Purpose
13. We generally welcome the approach taken
to the Agency's general purpose in draft clause 2(1). This simply
and effectively captures the essence of the new body's role in
relation to securing public benefits from the way we look after
natural resources, now and in the future. It is important to retain
this essential clarity in making any changes.
14. The National Trust Acts provide one
of the few existing legislative precedents for an organisation
charged with combining conservation and access to bring in perpetuity
benefits for the nation and the lessons we have learned are summarised
in Annex 3. We believe the general purpose, as drafted, falls
down in two critical areas:
The lack of a purpose to "promote"this
has been central to the achievements of the National Trust, enabling
a broad and flexible approach to the delivery of our statutory
purposes which embraces not only ownership and management but
also education, research and advocacy.
Recognition of the intrinsic value
of the natural environmentthe natural world is important
for its own sake as well as for the public benefits it provides.
15. We broadly support the proposed approach
to sustainable development that confirms the Agency's role as
an environmental champion first which contributes to social and
economic progress through its contribution to management of the
natural environment.
16. We are concerned by the potential confusion
generated by the explanation of the Agency's general purpose in
draft Clause (2)(2). This is likely to lead to potentially distracting
and confusing debates such as:
the difference between "nature
conservation" and "biodiversity";
whether "protecting" biodiversity
makes it a higher priority than "conserving" landscape;
why biodiversity can't be "enhanced";
and
why it is only possible to "promote"
"access" and "nature conservation"?
17. This is exacerbated by providing a definition
for "nature conservation" but not for "landscape",
"biodiversity" or "natural environment".
18. We urge the Committee to identify the
need for a more consistent approach in the way the legislation
addresses the Agency's responsibilities, especially for landscape
and wildlife.
19. We should also highlight a weakness
in draft Clause 2(2) relating to the contribution of the natural
environment to education and learning. As drafted the Agency's
role is limited to "securing the provision and improvement
of facilities" which could constrain it from undertaking
wider activity to promote public understanding and education.
As a major provider of education and lifelong learning the National
Trust has first hand experience of the importance and power of
the "outdoor classroom" in promoting not only learning
but also personal development. This was recognised by the Government
in the announcement on 11 February 2005 by Education Secretary,
Ruth Kelly MP, supported by the Prime Minister to make out-of-classroom
education "a part of every pupil's experience" and to
prepare a Manifesto for Outdoor Education. The focus of the Agency's
learning role on "nature" may also preclude study of
cultural and historic aspects of the landscape.
20. The Trust would welcome clarification
of the role of the Agency in relation to the cultural importance
of the natural environment. This goes beyond the current remit
of English Heritage. The experience of the Countryside Council
for Wales (CCW) highlights the potential for a gulf to develop
between the responsibilities of the relevant heritage bodies (eg
CADW or English Heritage) with a focus on scheduled sites and
the responsibility for the wider landscape vested in CCW or the
Integrated Agency. Important cultural aspects of the environment
such as tranquillity and dark skies need to be championed by the
Agency.
21. We are also concerned that the breadth
of the Agency's responsibilities does not result in undue bias
towards those issues for which there is a strong legislative base
or international obligation, especially in the corporate planning
process. There is a particular concern about the lack of either
international obligations or a strong legislative base for landscape
considerations with clear policy targets to underpin a focus in
this area. This would suggest the need to establish clear landscape
objectives (eg Swedish Environmental Quality Objectives model)
and for the UK Government to ratify the Council of Europe's European
Landscape Convention as a start. The Agency might also take responsibility
for some "wider countryside" regulatory functions such
as environmental impact assessment of proposals impacting on uncultivated
land.
22. We should also support amendments to
the draft Clause to clarify the Agency's role in promoting enjoyment
of the countryside and open spaces cannot be misconstrued and
relates to quiet and other appropriate forms of enjoyment which
do not damage the quality of the natural environment.
23. The Trust also recognises the concern
over how the priority attached to different aspects of the Agency's
purpose will be decided. This is difficult to express on the face
of the Bill but we support application of the "Sandford Principle"
to its work insofar as conservation needs will take priority over
access in cases of significant conflict. This works well in relation
to the Trust's own activities as well as in relation to National
Parks.
(b) Regional environmental governance
24. The Trust attaches great importance
to the Agency's potential to strengthen environmental governance
not only at the national level, but also at the regional level.
Decisions impacting on our natural resources are taken increasingly
at regional and local levels and neither DEFRA nor its agencies
have had the means to really influence these decisions. We believe
that the Agency's regional environmental role and function should
be as strong as the Regional Development Agencies' economic role
and function, working in collaboration with the Environment Agency.
Clauses to this effect should be included in the Bill, including
recognition of its role as a statutory consultee in the development
of Regional Spatial Strategies, Regional Economic Strategies,
significant infrastructure and development projects, Shoreline
Management Plans, River Basin Management Plans and other areas
of regional and strategic level decision making. It will be essential
significantly to strengthen the content and process for preparing
Regional Rural Delivery Frameworks for this to be effective. We
also believe it should be the norm for the Integrated Agency to
have a place on the RDA Board and a concordat should be established
with the Regional Assembly.
(c) Other powers
25. We are broadly content with the Agency's
proposed powers to advise and undertake research and its abilities
to delegate to committees. This could be particularly helpful
in strengthening its role at a regional level.
(d) Culture and Leadership
26. The Trust urges the Committee also to
consider the way in which the new Agency will come into being
as well as its legislative base. The new organisational culture
is as important as its structure and the success of the new body
depends on investing in change. Developing the new organisational
culture and approach will not just happen, particularly when many
of the staff will be the same and there will be an imbalance in
staff from the different constituent organisations with very different
cultures. It requires focussed investment and leadership through
a change programme. Resources invested early on in securing successful
change will repay themselves handsomely in performance and outcomes
and this should be built into the Agency's budgets from the outset.
(4) COMMISSION
FOR RURAL
COMMUNITIES
27. If the new Commission for Rural Communities
(CRC) is to match the ambitions for rural communities set out
in the Rural Strategy then it needs to have the independence,
capacity, expertise and resources to champion and engage effectively
in rural policy proofing, development and delivery at both national
and regional levels. It should also provide a rural foresight
role for the Government and others. We therefore believe there
is a strong case not only for the statutory basis of the CRC as
a non-executive public body but also for its rural proofing role.
The CRC should be able to undertake primary research and analysis
and have an "innovation fund" available to "conduct
experiments in order to test new and innovative approaches to
delivery" in a similar way to the Integrated Agency. This
would enable it to work with, for example, RDAs, the voluntary
sector and local strategic partnerships. It needs to both speak
out on behalf of rural communities and provide independent advice
on the rural dimension of economic, social and environmental issues.
28. We are particularly concerned that the
lack of an effective regional presence will fatally weaken the
CRC. We urge that its regional role is recognised in the Bill
and that the Commission is resourced sufficiently in this area,
especially given the continuing devolution of decision making
on rural policy to this level.
(5) JOINT NATURE
CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
29. The Integrated Agency should have the
freedom to take actions abroad that contribute to its general
purpose. It is important that any such actions do not compromise
the work of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee but the requirement
in draft Clause 34 that the "development and implementation
of policies for or affecting any nature conservation matter"
(emphasis added) may only be discharged through the JNCC is too
restrictive. It needs to be more carefully drafted. The current
effect might require debates over the future of EU agriculture
and wider land use policies to pass through JNCC. The current
NDPBs work well together in shaping EU policy without legislative
recourse to JNCC. The Agency's wider responsibilities for landscape,
education, and access may also lead it to take a different approach
to JNCC on some nature conservation matters.
(6) DEVOLUTION
AND TRANSFER
OF FUNCTIONS
30. The Trust has some concerns about the
scope of the powers of the Secretary of State in Chapter 1 of
Part 3 of the draft Bill to devolve functions to other bodies
or transfer powers between them. It is important that relevant
stakeholders are consulted before such decisions are made. An
assessment should also be required to ensure that any new functions
do not fundamentally shift the balance of priorities in a manner
that would undermine delivery of the general purpose of a body.
Annex 1
TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT POLICY
FRAMEWORK
A paradigm shift in land and resource
management
1. We have a unique opportunity to modernise
the way we manage the natural and cultural resources of our land
and seas. The legacy of post-war policies that engendered a remote,
top-down, one-size fits all approach, particularly to agricultural
land, is ending. New policy drivers, changes to institutional
frameworks and profound environmental trends require and enable
us to adopt a new and integrated approach to sustainable land
management.
2. Increasingly, domestic and European policy
requires us to manage land and resources at a much more ecologically
relevant and locally sensitive scale, most recently through the
Water Framework Directive's integrated river basin management
plans. Our domestic political and institutional frameworks have
evolved too. Devolution, a new localism, the growth in corporate
responsibility and a highly active voluntary sector gives the
Government much greater flexibility to develop and implement policy
more creatively, effectively and efficiently to ensure sustained
provision of public benefits by a broad range of partners.
3. Our environmental challenges are complex,
especially dealing with the profound impacts of climate change
on our natural and cultural resources which will have significant
consequences for our society and economy. Re-thinking our use
of land and resources and preparing now for continual adaptation
to change and management of risk will be a more cost effective
and publicly accountable response than reactive and sometimes
catastrophic adjustments. This requires a forward looking philosophy
in policy making that proactively tackles the root causes of environmental
problems, not end of pipe fixes. It complements approaches to
pollution and health as two related areas where policy is increasingly
moving towards prevention rather than cure; securing significant
long term cost savings and avoiding damaging impacts and effects.
4. The value and function of land in meeting
the needs of our C21st society has changed considerably since
the last major policy shift post-war towards maximising food production
and it will continue to change. Access to a diverse and wildlife-rich
public realm, in the countryside and the town, is recognised as
an essential contribution to people's health and wellbeing; a
vital component of high quality living and working spaces; and
a key economic driver. Increasingly, land is becoming highly valued
for its function, for example in flood mitigation, water storage
and purification.
5. These powerful forces of change together
create an imperative to develop a sustainable land management
policy framework that is more locally relevant, accountable and
based on delivering public benefits for all, now and in the futurea
paradigm shift in land and resource management policy and delivery.
We need leadership in developing this new policy framework if
we are to realise the potential delivery benefits of new institutions,
most notably the Integrated Agency. Without it, any new delivery
body will be operating in a policy vacuum and against the grain
of current policy approaches.
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE
LAND MANAGEMENT
(SLM)
6. Sustainable land management (SLM) is
about meeting the needs of current and future generations from
land without depleting the natural and cultural resources upon
which their needs depend. It is helpful to think of SLM as a new
approach to the strategic and integrated planning, use and management
of land. It is a clear and positive move forward from the often
incoherent and inefficient sectoral and silo approaches to land
managementagriculture, forestry, biodiversity, landscape,
water, soil, recreation, accessthat are a relic of past
policy priorities and approaches.
7. A SLM approach is based on respecting
the quality, integrity and health of land, ensuring the sustainable
use of natural and cultural resources within "land capability",
founded primarily on the living resources of soil and water. The
key ingredients of this approach are:
Strategicmanaging flexibly
and reversibly for the inherently unpredictable long term.
Scale sensitivemanaging at
an appropriate catchment, ecosystem and landscape scale.
Dynamicmanaging within natural
systems and processes, rather than fixed areas and institutional
boundaries.
Informedmanaging on the basis
of robust information and evidence.
Prudentmanaging demand for
and supply of scarce resources.
Equitablemanaging to ensure
fair access for current and future generations.
Democraticmanaging to local
as well as national and international needs and priorities.
Mutualmanaging to ensure shared
responsibility for stewardship.
8. The key tests of whether we are succeeding
in moving towards SLM include:
the capacity, functionality and resilience
of ecosystems;
the quality and integrity of the
countryside;
the natural realignment of the coast
and sustenance of natural sea defences;
access for all to the countryside
(mental, physical, intellectual);
primary resource availability, reducing
use and minimising waste;
the reduction of risks to society
(eg from hazards, extreme events, resource shortages);
lower total long term costs (both
public and private) in managing resources; and
the leverage of public investment
in attracting financial, intellectual and logistical investment
from the private and voluntary sectors.
A DEMONSTRABLY NEW
APPROACH TO
POLICY-MAKING
9. A SLM framework challenges many of our
current practices in policy-making and the development of a new
framework will help to catalyse a change in culture, behaviour
and approach not only of government, but also land managers, industry,
voluntary sector and the public.
10. SLM provides a critical opportunity
to embed a better regulatory approach to land and resource policy
making, with packages of measures becoming the norm, based on
clear public benefit outcomes and underpinned by risk management.
A much greater focus on "soft" measuressuch as
advice, training and demonstrationwill also be required
to build the capacity of key groups to respond to change, particularly
land and resource managers.
11. Understanding the condition of our natural
and cultural resources and the current and future pressures on
them is a pre-requisite to developing the framework, so investing
in a sound evidence base is essential. Equally important is ensuring
policy-makers have the understanding, skills and resources to
interpret and use the evidence in a multi-disciplinary way.
12. As land and resource outcomes are by
their nature strongly spatial, a SLM policy architecture will
need to be based on a strategic spatial planning framework that
covers the whole landmassand sea. River basin management
plans take us part way there, but these need to be integrated
with the statutory land use planning system (especially regional
spatial strategies and local development frameworks) in a way
that strengthens their overall sustainable development purpose.
This still leaves gaps, for example, in identifying areas for
the large-scale restoration of ecosystem and landscape integrity
or identifying areas that provide the greatest health and wellbeing
benefits (such as areas of tranquillity).
13. In developing SLM policy we will also
need to operate beyond the usual organisational boundaries. It
will be vital to harness the commitment, resources, energy and
experience of partner organisations in the public, private and
voluntary sector, not least to multiply the impact of public investment.
This collaboration has a key advantage in growing a sense of shared
responsibility and accountability beyond the Government for the
protection, enhancement and restoration of our natural and cultural
resources. The High Peak catchment is one example where this approach
is already yielding benefitssee box below.
REAL AND
LASTING BENEFITS
ON THE
GROUND
14. The key prize from a successful SLM
policy is to enable social and economic wellbeing to be built
on a high quality and healthy environment. Moving towards a SLM
policy framework should help us realise a number of benefits that
are currently proving difficult or expensive. These include:
Developing local economic land-based
cultures beyond "agri" culture, for example in tourism,
leisure, energy, recycling, health and education.
Developing new enterprises based
on environmental services, for example in flood management, water
storage and purification.
A culture of stewardship of natural
and cultural resources amongst all land and resource managers.
Large scale restoration of ecosystems
and landscape through public, private, voluntary partnerships.
Targeting research according to strategic
need.
Real public involvement in deciding
what they value and need from their public realm, particularly
on their doorstep.
Improved public understanding of
and support for managing the risks to valued natural and cultural
resources, for example from flooding, erosion, land subsidence,
climate change.
Real increases in resource productivity
and a culture of wise consumption.
More coherent and efficient public
spending that achieves sustained improvements in the condition
of our resource assets.
Developing natural and cultural resource
accounting to measure the real change in national assetsbeyond
GDP.
Annex 2
CASE STUDIES OF AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
1. The following case studies illustrate
the potential and benefits of a more integrated approach to natural
resource management based on partnership working at a landscape
or catchment scale.
(1) THE HIGH
PEAK PARTNERSHIPA
VOLUNTARY, PUBLIC,
PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
2. The Ashop catchment in the Southern Pennines
of Derbyshire covers about 125km2 of blanket peat bog of national
and European importance, owned mainly by the National Trust. It
supplies drinking water to the communities of Leicester, Sheffield,
Derby and Nottingham, through the Ladybower reservoir system of
Severn Trent plc. The work here shows some of the financial and
environmental advantages from catchment-scale approaches to land
management change and the opportunities for new forms of partnership
between the public, private and voluntary sectors.
3. Much of the peat, especially at high
altitude, has been subject to erosion and degradation from the
combined effects of drought, fire, overgrazing and atmospheric
pollution. This has serious environmental, economic and social
consequences:
The designated SSSI and cSAC blanket
peat is in unfavourable condition.
The drinking water is discoloured
(the reason for 50% of customer complaints) and needs expensive
treatment. The problem has been getting worse since the mid nineties.
Peat erosion leads to sedimentation
of the reservoirs, with 1-10 tonnes of peat slurry removed every
day from Ladybower Reservoir and disposed of in landfill.
Oxidation of a significant carbon
store.
4. Dealing with these issues "end of
pipe" and in isolation is proving expensive and ineffective,
with a growing financial burden on the water company, its customers,
the National Trust and the public purse.
5. It is clear that to restore the health
of the blanket peat and the quality of the hugely valuable water
resource, a proactive approach was needed at a much larger spatial
and temporal scale.
6. A voluntary, public, private partnership
between the National Trust, English Nature, Severn Trent and Nottingham
Trent University has bought together financial, intellectual and
logistical resources to identify and tackle the root causes of
the poor condition of the water. Through research and experimentation
with moorland management techniques, the partnership aims to move
towards the sustainable land management of the whole catchment.
7. There is significant potential for creative
policy and delivery measures to pay farmers for providing clean
water services through direct contracts with the water company,
which should be far more profitable than subsidised sheep production.
Improving the quality of the environment in this way will mean
that any investment through agri-environment schemes will buy
the public far greater benefits than they are able to currently.
(2) WICKEN FENGREEN
SPACE WITH
GROWTH
8. The Trust's Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire
is one of Britain's oldest nature reserves. Forming around 325
hectares of wetland, it is one of the last remnants of the traditional
landscapes of the fens. It supports 7,000 species, including over
120 Red Data Book species and has designations including status
as a Special Area of Conservation and a Ramsar site. Despite its
long history, impressive species list and high visitor numbers,
in its current form Wicken is too small and too isolated to have
a sustainable future.
9. Our intention is to turn Wicken Fen into
an invaluable social, economic and environmental resource. The
aim is to increase the Fen tenfold, by acquiring 3,700 hectares
of surrounding arable land to return it to wetland, creating what
will be equivalent to a new mini National Park. As well as securing
Wicken's long term future, this will create substantial social
and economic benefits for the Cambridge sub-region and the East
of England as a whole. This is one of the fastest growing areas
of the country.
10. The Integrated Agency could play a vital
role in realising the potential of large-scale landscape and ecosystem
restoration projects like the Wicken Vision, helping to break
down the barriers. As a strong regional player, the Agency will
have a unique and strategic view of the public and environmental
needs of the region and an ability to ensure these are reflected
effectively in the land use planning system. The Agency will be
able to integrate and target investment in the environment where
it contributes most to environmental and public well-being and
to foster wider support from the public, private and voluntary
sectors. Through being both a strategic environmental champion
and a provider of practical support, the Integrated Agency would
help the Wicken Vision achieve its ambitious goal.
(3) CUTLERS CATCHMENT:
INTEGRATED CATCHMENT
PLANNING AND
DELIVERY
11. The Cutlers catchment near Derby includes
Cutler, Mercaston, Mackworth and Markeaton brooks. The work here
shows the benefits of an integrated and partnership approach to
tackling the impacts of a multitude of problems within a catchment.
The Trust's Kedleston Hall estate sits within the catchment. The
site has an 18th century designated landscape, with a series of
lakes created by the damming of Cutlers Brook, one of which is
designated SSSI which also provide significant recreational benefit
to the people of Derby and beyond. Further downstream Derby City
Council (DCC) has a number of settling ponds and lakes which play
a vital role in the city's flood management system.
12. Upstream, the catchment contains arable
and dairy farms, a sewage outlet and trout farm. The mix of slope,
topography and soil of the surrounding landscape renders the catchment
prone to generating runoff and sediment. Inappropriate land management
practices such as ploughing up and down the gradients, ploughing
close to river banks, cultivating on too steep a gradient, ploughing
across gateways on slopes next to roads, poor slurry containment,
have led to an increase in the sediment and runoff washing into
the lakes.
13. This diffuse pollution not only results
in poor water quality of the lakes with consequent impacts on
biodiversity and amenity value, the rising levels of silt are
also affecting the flood storage ponds, significantly reducing
Derby's flood storage capacity. The DCC ponds were last de-silted
in 1995 and are in urgent need of doing so again, an expensive
and unsustainable process.
14. The National Trust has played a lead
role in establishing a catchment partnership to tackle the problems
at source and develop integrated solutions. The partners include
the Environment Agency, English Nature, Derby City Council, DEFRA,
FWAG and neighbouring farmers. The following measures are being
considered:
(1) Development of willow and alder carr
at appropriate points along the watercourses to trap silts and
remove eutrophic and other inputs from the water. Areas of swamp,
shallow open water and marsh to increase biodiversity.
(2) An area of permanent pasture as a buffer
for the upper Mercaston Brook.
(3) A change of farming practises to reduce
soil erosion eg contour ploughing, buffer strips, under-sowing,
uncultivated zones around gateways, reduced grazing pressure,
etc.
15. A catchment plan is being developed
to implement these measures at the most appropriate points. This
will help with targeting of public investment through Environmental
Stewardship, the Single Farm Payment (cross compliance), the flood
defence budget and any future expenditure on preventing diffuse
water pollution from agriculture and meeting Water Framework Directive
requirements.
16. All the main partners have contributed
funding (mainly for capital works) and staff expertise to deliver
the project. EA has provided data on discharge and abstraction
licences, pollution incidents and water quality to inform the
catchment risk management.
17. The integrated solutions to the multiple
problems require changes to farming culture and practice throughout
the catchment. This is heavily dependent on advice to farmers
and catchment-scale facilitation of land management change.
18. The goal is for land managers within
the catchment to be paid for providing a public service to the
people of Derby, that not only improves flood protection and water
quality, but also safeguards biodiversity and the quality of the
public realm.
Annex 3
THE NATIONAL TRUST ACTS AND THE INTEGRATED
AGENCY
1. The National Trust Acts provide one of
the few existing legislative precedents for an organisation charged
with combining conservation and access to bring in perpetuity
benefits for the nation. Our purposes are as follows:
"The National Trust shall be
established for the purposes of promoting the permanent preservation
for the benefit of the nation of lands and tenements (including
buildings) of beauty or historic interest and as regards lands
for the preservation (so far as is practicable) of their natural
aspect features and animal and plant life"
National Trust Act 1907
"The purposes of the National
Trust shall be extended so as to include the promotion of:
(a) The preservation of buildings
of national interest or architectural, historic or artistic interest
and places of natural interest or beauty and the protection and
augmentation of the amenities of such buildings and places and
their surroundings.
(b) The preservation of furniture
and pictures and chattels of any description having national or
historic or artistic interest.
(c) The access to and enjoyment of
such buildings, places and chattels by the public"
National Trust Act 1937
2. Whilst much of this wording may be dated
it has served the National Trust well in integrating our approach
and provides some helpful pointers for establishing the new Integrated
Agency. We would highlight the following:
"promoting", "promotion"The
general purpose to "promote" has been central to the
achievements and success of the Trust, enabling a broad and flexible
approach to the delivery of our statutory and charitable purposes
which embraces not only ownership and management but also education,
research and advocacy.
"for the benefit of the nation"Our
purposes clearly state that we need to work for the widest possible
public benefit and not just for those who visit our properties
or join as members. This underpins our outreach and advocacy work
and the role we play in working with others for the benefit of
people and places beyond the boundaries of our properties.
conservation and access/natural and
historic environmentThe Trust's responsibilities for conservation
and access and bringing together both the natural and historic
environment present similar challenges and opportunities as the
new Agency. In our experience they combine to provide stronger
and more effective management of places and together they deliver
more lasting public benefits than they would separately.
"permanent"The
bulk of the Trust's properties are inalienable and managed for
permanent public benefits. This has the advantage of injecting
truly long term thinking into our planning and operations, which
allows options and choices to be made which would not be possible
on "normal" business planning horizons. We plan and
operate on a "balance sheet" rather than a "profit
and loss" basis and know that when and where we invest we
will be responsible for the consequences for ever.
National Trust
February 2005
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