5. Approaches to Policy and Management

Management and enhancement

5.1 There are many existing arrangements which encourage and enable positive management for biodiversity and geodiversity, and from which LNCS may benefit. Forest design plans and agri-environment schemes both take account of nature conservation, and so may account for and address the management needs of LNCS where the opportunity arises. Habitat and species action plans identify priorities for groups of habitats and for species, and identify and pull together funding sources to help make progress with these priorities. In and around settlements, Greenspace projects, Country Parks and Regional Parks may take responsibility for LNCS where there is an opportunity to provide management for nature conservation whilst promoting community involvement and enjoyment.

5.2 The record of outcomes and recommended management contained in the Site Statement should help to identify where action should be taken for the natural heritage under these existing arrangements. The LBAP and LGAP partnerships should oversee actions towards the objectives given in the Site Statement.

Binn Wood:

Perthshire Binn Wood provides an example of how various sources of third party funding can help a site in private ownership. This is a relatively large area of semi-ancient woodland of high value for biodiversity. As well as typical woodland flora and fauna, including red squirrels, the site is also an important location for the nationally rare sticky catchfly plant. The Scottish Wildlife Trust secured resources from a combination of landfill tax and private charitable trust sources for survey of the site and for the provision of initial habitat management advice to the owner. Habitat enhancement and public access improvements have subsequently been undertaken by the landowner and Scottish Wildlife Trust Training Teams (local people on a government training scheme), financed by a local landfill operator and the landowner.

Planning policies

5.3 The Local Plan should include an explanation of the purpose of the LNCS designation. It should set this in the context of other nature conservation policies, including statutory designations, the Local Biodiversity Action Plan, and Local Geodiversity Action Plan (as and when developed). The Local Plan should make available full details of the process followed in selecting sites. Ensuring that LNCS are an effective mechanism requires good communication between development control officers and officers dealing with LNCS. The presence of LNCS should be included early in discussions about the location of development, and planning authorities should consider opportunities to enhance LNCS during development.

5.4 Planning policies for the protection of LNCS should be distinct from policies relating to statutory designations, and should be set out in the context of these policies. Policies should recognise the important contribution of LNCS to nature conservation, and seek to ensure that development does not adversely affect them. Where a planning application concerns land selected as a LNCS, the developer should carry out an assessment of the impact of the proposal on the nature conservation interest of the site. Where it is decided, for significant reasons of social and economic importance, that development should go ahead, there should be provision as far as possible for retention of nature conservation interest through planning conditions. Where this is not possible, the loss should be compensated for by habitat creation or site enhancement elsewhere through planning agreements or conditions.

5.5 The location of LNCS should be clearly identified on the Local Plan proposals map, and boundaries shown. A formal record of the evaluation of the site should also be readily available within the planning process. To this end, Site Statements (see para 4.15 – 4.16) should be made available as supplementary planning guidance within the Local Plan, and included in the consultation process for the Local Plan.

5.6 The presence of LNCS can contribute to the Strategic Environmental Assessment of plans and programmes through providing information on the biodiversity or geodiversity resource. The presence of LNCS should also help to inform an Environmental Impact Assessment.

Open Space Strategies and habitat networks

5.7 Planning Advice Note (PAN) 65 ‘Planning and Open Space’ recommends the preparation by each local authority of Open Space Strategies (OSS) for towns and cities, and it describes ‘types of open space’ to be included in each Strategy. LNCS may fall into one or more of these categories, the most likely being green corridors and natural/semi-natural greenspaces. A LNCS system will be a significant contributor to the OSS goal to create open space networks to ‘link and create wildlife habitats’ and to ‘enhance environmental qualities’ (PAN 65 section 20). The OSS will help to identify where a LNCS system can best contribute to the goals of encouraging community engagement and fostering pride in the local natural heritage. Review of a LNCS system will benefit from consideration alongside the development and implementation of an OSS, but the criteria for designating LNCS should be maintained as separate to those defining open spaces.

5.8 Some Local Authorities have identified habitat networks in order to maintain linked areas of natural open space for wildlife and landscape benefit. These are distinct from Open Space Strategies, but will overlap, especially in urban areas. Local biodiversity sites can act as significant pools of biodiversity within habitat networks, and the need to maintain the connectivity of the network can influence their selection. This will be especially true for those habitats which particularly benefit from good connectivity with similar habitats, for example river corridors or woodlands.

5.9 The Scottish Forestry Strategy, which is currently under review, provides a framework and vision for a national approach to creating and strengthening woodland networks. These networks are viewed as an important mechanism for protecting and restoring biodiversity and strengthening ecosystem functioning. The Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme, which will come to be replaced by Land Management Contracts, supports the planting and management of woodlands to form networks. LNCS have the potential to play a role in the planning of woodland networks, particularly in the lowlands and around towns, where woodland loss is most pronounced and where the benefits of its restoration, to both biodiversity and to people, are most immediate. Work is underway on refining ecological models and planning tools, with the aim of strengthening the ability of forest networks to maintain and restore woodland biodiversity.

Role in agriculture

5.10 Many LNCS will comprise or include agricultural land. Often their nature conservation interest will depend on a particular type of agricultural management, or on deliberate action for the purpose of managing, maintaining or improving a particular feature. Some farmers and crofters are managing these sites for their conservation value through agri-environmental schemes, such as the Countryside Premium Scheme (CPS), the Rural Stewardship Scheme (RSS) or the Tier-2 Menu Scheme (forerunner of the Land Management Contracts that will be introduced in 2007).

5.11 The RSS gives a measure of priority to applications featuring ‘local priority’ habitats and species, and these are determined in consultation with stakeholders. Varying degrees of priority are also given to the inclusion of actions for habitats and species listed in Local Biodiversity Action Plans. These priorities will be included in the selection process for LNCS, and the LNCS Site Statement will help to identify action for their management.

Well-being, enjoyment and environmental education

5.12 The Community Planning process has introduced a new emphasis on community well-being and regeneration, with consequent concerns for local environmental quality and the engagement of local people in promoting this. LNCS can make a contribution by raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity and geodiversity to environmental quality, and the importance of conservation to maintaining that quality. Community involvement in the care and enjoyment of LNCS will help to ensure that local people understand and take pride in locally important biodiversity and geodiversity, but the priority for site management should always be in keeping with the conservation of the site’s special qualities.

5.13 Local Nature Reserves (LNR) are designated on land identified for its locally special natural interest and/or its educational value, and they are managed primarily for the purpose of nature conservation. This definition distinguishes LNR from LNCS. LNCS are not necessarily managed primarily for the purpose of nature conservation, and educational value is not a primary factor in deciding on their selection. Where a LNCS is managed by the local authority solely for nature conservation, and where there are opportunities for people to enjoy and find out about the local natural heritage, then it may become a good candidate for LNR status.

Hopetoun Road, South Queensferry

Hopetoun Road provides an example of how community interest in a local greenspace area, combined with recognition as a LNCS, can work for local biodiversity.

This site comprises a narrow strip of woodland, grassland and scrub, and was considered for industrial development in the late 1980’s. Among the features of interest are northernmarsh and common spotted orchids and locally scare plants such as kidney vetch, haresfoot clover and squirrel-tailed fescue. Local community action highlighted its importance as an important area of natural greenspace and haven for wildlife within the town. The site was given LNCS status in the Local Plan, and its original boundaries were extended, quadrupling its size. Through the community working in partnership with the local council, the site is now subject to active management to maintain its high biodiversity, and is under active consideration for designation as a Local Nature Reserve.

Relationship to statutory nature conservation designations

5.14 LNCS may be selected in places where there is already a national or international nature conservation designation. If the local interest for which the LNCS is designated is different to the national interest for which the statutory designation is made, the LNCS should exist alongside the statutory designation. If the interests are the same, there is no need to incorporate the site as part of the LNCS system.

5.15 Within Scotland’s National Parks, the policies and procedures developed by the Park Authority set out how biodiversity and geodiversity will be protected and enhanced across the Park area. Through the Park Plan, the Park Authority may decide that an approach equivalent to a LNCS system will help prioritise action and assist in decision-making.