Agenda item

To receive an update on Local Nature Reserves.

The Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Planning and Sustainability, presented the report of the Director for Prosperity and Investment, which sought Cabinet’s approval of the declaration of new areas of Local Nature Reserve (LNR) under Sections 19 and 21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

Councillor Healy said that the two new local nature reserves were in central Newport and Hurley Brook. Over the last few years, she had several tours of Newport with ward members, the Town Council, the Civic Society and others and on most visits, she had been made clear of the desire to look at the management of a number of sites throughout central Newport and how they could be brought together.

Those representations had been heard and Newport Canal, which was already a site of special scientific interest - a designation that had a higher level of protection than a local nature reserve - but also connected to the canal, the recognition that Strine Brook Park and Victoria Park, which was one of the Council’s green flag parks, were connected to the canal and that by designating the whole area as a local nature reserve, allowed the management of all of those green spaces to be brought together and much more cohesive. The site benefitted from lots of volunteer input and there was a new friends’ group that had been started up and Newport in Bloom also did quite a lot of work around the canal area and other parts of what would be the local nature reserve.

Shrewsbury Newport Canal Trust had also done a lot of work over many years in that area and would be a fantastic new local nature reserve for the borough. If approved, officers would work with local members, the Town Council and these volunteer groups to determine that future management and the naming of the reserve as that needed to be led locally.

Hurley Brook was the other new site, that was in the centre of the Hadleigh and Leegomery ward. The site followed the Hurley Brook with woodlands and meadows attached and supported a wide range of flora and fauna. It was situated in the middle of a quite densely populated part of town and this designation meant that those local people had got easy access to very high-quality green space. Like at Newport, the ward members and especially the chair of Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council had championed this site, which also had a very active friends’ group.

The Council had done some wonderful projects in partnership with those to enhance the nature conservation value of the site and and also to monitor the water quality of the brook to ensure that the Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water met their statutory obligations and worked to reduce pollution there.

On the amended boundaries, sites that were previously approved back in September 2022, the Council was looking to separate out some of those areas and had brought a number of sites together to designate them as local nature reserves and as one large local nature reserve. Having reflected on that and worked with Natural England, the Council was now looking to separate some of those boundaries in order that, for example, Priorslee Flash was a separate local nature reserve, Red Hill Ecology Park would become a separate local nature reserve, and then the Snedshill and Albion Hill would be a separate local nature reserve, which recognised the distinct habitats that they had and also the distinct communities that they served.

Similarly, the previously approved Holmer Lake and Kemberton Meadows local nature reserve had been separated out so that Holmer Lake actually now connected to the Madebrook pools local nature reserve, which recognised that the friends’ group of Holmer Lake actively worked in the Madebrook and Stirchley pools area.  Bringing this together as one site made much more sense on the ground, which meant that Kemberton Meadows and Pitmounds would be a stand-alone local nature reserve.

The proposals would bring the total number of local nature reserves to 27, covering 748 hectares of land equivalent to four hectares of local nature reserve per 1,000 population and was four times the standard that was set by Natural England.

This underscored the Council’s reputation as one of the greenest Councils, whereas in the country it underscored its reputation with Natural England and was held up as an example of national best practice in terms of protecting and enhancing green space. It also underscored the Council’s approach to careful plan-led development that ensured green spaces were retained, that those green spaces were connected in order that wildlife could move between areas that helped populations, species to expand and be more resilient to factors such as climate change. Finally, it underscored the Council’s commitment to deliver on protecting and enhancing biodiversity.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet:

a)    approved the declaration of new areas of Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and amendments to existing and previously approved LNRs as outlined in the plans and the separation of two proposed LNRs into four LNRs in their own right. This would take the total number of LNRs to 27, covering around 748ha and would result in approximately 4.03ha of LNR per 1000 of the population, over four times the minimum recommended standard;

b)   delegated authority be granted process to the Director of Prosperity and Investment and Director of Policy and Governance in consultation with the Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods, Planning and Sustainability to complete the declaration.