Climate and ecological emergency strategy - Natural Assets

Supporting documents

Hear more about Dorset Council’s changes to verge management from our Greenspaces Team Manager

Scale of the challenge

Natural Assets, which can be described collectively as Natural Capital, play a critical role in providing services that are vital for the physical wellbeing of the population, such as clean air, water, and healthy soils. This is as well as the natural regulation of hazards, such as flooding.

The productive capacity of our Natural Assets underpins the whole economy. And how we manage the demands on our Natural Capital is key to ensuring the quality and diversity of our ecology.

Biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – is declining globally. The world’s 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things by weight, but humanity has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants.

The significant proportion of Dorset (53%) has been designated for conservation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Dorset is one of the most important counties for wildlife, with 141 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, covering an area of 199.45 km2, 11 National Nature Reserves (NNRs), and 1,254 Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCIs).

In addition, 23 sites are recognised to be of international or European importance (SACs, SPAs, and RAMSAR sites) and there are also 63 Regionally Important Geological Sites (RIGS) and 45 Local Nature Reserves (LNRs).

Therefore, in order to protect our Natural Assets, Dorset Council must work towards meeting several objectives, which include raising funds to facilitate habitat gain and furthermore improve the quality and protection its species.

This is as well as increasing sequestration, using land to increase resilience to climate change, and ensuring that future management and maintenance are financially sustainable.

Dorset’s progress so far

AONB & Natural Environment teams within the Council are leading on a variety of projects to protect & enhance biodiversity
Natural England has developed Accessible Natural Greenspace Standard (ANGSt), providing local authorities with a detailed guide as to what constitutes accessible green space
Dorset AONB team are currently looking at how future agricultural support from government can help deliver their ambitions
Dorset Council currently meeting mitigation requirements by offsetting impact of residential development
Biodiversity Appraisal Protocol (BAP) set up to ensure there is an integrated approach to planning & development
in 2016 Dorset County Council adopted Pollinators Action Plan to reduce the decline in pollinating insects—which DC now operate
new ecologically beneficial approach to verge management approved by Dorset County Council in 2014 & has been progressively rolled out across the County.

Key issues

Nationally:

biodiversity (the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems) is declining globally, faster than at any other time in human history
the use of land for more intensive agriculture, urbanisation, and afforestation resulted in the loss and fragmentation of many semi-natural habitats
climate change, combined with other social, economic, and environmental pressures, will present significant risks to the services provided by the land
the UK population is predicted to increase by nine million by 2050, increasing the area of land required for settlements

In Dorset:

intensive agriculture reduces the flows of most ecosystem services, including flood protection, water quality, carbon storage, soil quality, and provision of habitat for wildlife
carbon storage by changes in land use has increased by 98% from -53 ktCO₂ in 2005 to -105 ktCO₂ in 2017, resulting in net sequestration of carbon
overall, 47% of local Dorset businesses stated that they were dependent on ecosystem service flows in some way

Key opportunities

increase use of non-intervention management/rewilding techniques on Council land to improve connectivity of high ecological value areas
increase area of land owned and managed for ecological and carbon sequestration outcomes using various planning gains
ensure ecological quality is considered in flood management & highway schemes - e.g. Weymouth Relief Road
work with tenants of County Farms to promote and ensure best environmental practices are upheld
promote the Health and Wellbeing benefits of publicly accessible high ecological value land
prioritise ecological & carbon sequestration value in the design of the built environment through planning process
to ensure community tree planting initiatives are ecologically robust and sensitive to the local landscape ‘right tree in the right place’
increased tree planting where suitable to avoid detrimental effects on other habitat types or landscape

Areas for action

Natural Assets play a critical role in providing services that are vital for the physical wellbeing of the population, such as clean air, water, and healthy soils, as well as the natural regulation of hazards, such as flooding. Therefore, Dorset Council must towards meeting several direct, indirect, and influential objectives to protect these Natural Assets.

Direct:

Identify opportunities to use Dorset Council land to increase resilience to climate change
Increase biodiversity on identified areas of Council land
Increase area of Council owned or managed land for ecological & carbon sequestration outcomes
Creation of wildlife friendly areas on council land (incl. bee-friendly zones)
Increase hedge & woodland planting through Dormouse District Licence project
Review all chemical use to ensure no harm to unintended species
Expand cut & collect verge management
Increase tree planting where suitable to avoid detrimental effects on other habitat types or landscape

Indirect (through services):

Develop / adopt biodiversity, green & open spaces supplementary planning document to ensure a consistent approach for developers to take up protection & enhancement measures of key biodiverse areas
Use the financial contributions from development raised through Nitrates Supplementary Planning Document to buy land for rewilding / tree planting / creation of rough grassland and scrub
Ensure all decision making around use of natural assets is based upon ecological value
Manage heathlands SPD – SANGS in-house to provide additional areas for ecological & carbon sequestration purposes
Work with tenants of County Farms to promote and ensure best environmental practices are upheld

Influence and partnership:

Communicate to residents, business, & landowners good practice
Develop guidance to ensure community tree planting initiatives are ecologically robust & sensitive to local landscape (‘right tree in the right place’)
Promote tree planting through partnership working & use of Council tree planting checklist
Promote the health & wellbeing benefits of publicly accessible high ecological value land
Work in partnership with Children’s & Adult Services to ensure natural environment is fully utilised in social care offer
Work with partners to connect fragmented habitats across county
Work with town & parish councils to promote best practice within their greenspace & communities

Case Study: Verge Management

Since the 1930s the UK has seen a 97% reduction in wildflower meadows. The management of verges offers a huge opportunity to help compensate for this loss.

Over the last few years, Dorset Council has significantly changed the way we manage our verges to do more to protect, conserve and enhance the verges in Dorset for biodiversity. One of these changes is the increase in ‘cut and collect’ mowing - where we collect grass clippings instead of letting them rot down into the soil. Collecting clippings reduces the soil fertility, resulting in lower growth rates, longer periods between cutting and a far better environment for wildflowers to establish and thrive; in some examples a reduction from 7 cuts a year to just 2 has been achieved within towns and verges full of wildflowers. This reduction in cutting allows wildflowers the time to complete their life cycles which benefits bees and other pollinators. It also reduces emissions from mowers and vehicles transporting clippings.

Case Study: Dorset LNP - Ecological Network Map

Dorset Local Nature Partnership (LNP) works to maximise the benefits of Dorset’s environment for wildlife, people and the economy. Developed by Dorset Environmental Record Centre, Dorset LNP has published an update to its Ecological Network Maps. These maps show the existing network of known sites of wildlife importance, habitats that are valuable for wildlife and areas that are not currently of high nature value but offer the highest potential to be managed or enhanced.

These maps will be used to support work on both nature-based climate solutions and nature recovery to address the climate and ecological emergencies. They will inform planning decisions to ensure we enhance our environment and guide action to restore nature within the county, such as large-scale restoration projects or improved connectivity with existing sites.