Archive news
2005
Atlantic Coast and Valleys: Over the first hill!!
The Heath Project springs into action
Bringing Cornwall’s Landscapes to Life!
World Heritage Site, Under the Spotlight
Sustainable Development Fund- up and running
Atlantic Coast and Valleys: Over the first hill!!
It is brilliant news that the Atlantic Coast and Heritage Lottery Fund to contribute to a year long development phase totalling £295K, which will hopefully result in Heritage Lottery Project approval for the main phase of the project, lasting till 2009.
This partnership project has been developed by a wide ranging partnership which includes North Cornwall District Council, Caradon District Council, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, English Heritage, English Nature, National Trust, Cornwall County Council, University of Exeter in Cornwall, Duchy College, Eden Project and the RSPB. It seeks to invest an amazing £2.7 m to introduce landscape management favourable for increasing wildlife interest on parts of the North Cornwall coast within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The project will focus on several different aspects, including Enhancing the landscape and wildlife diversity in a nationally important area; Enhancing physical and intellectual access to the area; Involving local landowners and their communities; Developing the economy; Developing skills through training; and undertaking Research and Monitoring. The Cornwall AONB Unit will now join the project steering group to assist in the development process
If you would like more information contact Charlie David on (01208) 265644 or log on to: http://www.ncdc.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=10906
Cornwall Today magazine produced a recent article on the Atlantic Coast and Valley's project - visit
http://www.ncdc.gov.uk/media/adobe/i/d/ACCP Cornwall today 1.pdf
The Heath Project springs into action
Another partnership project which is positively responding to landscape change is the Health Project (formerly the Sea of Heather Project). This project is funded jointly by The Heritage Lottery Fund and EU Interreg IIIB. UK Partners including English Nature, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Penwith DC, Cornwall County Council and the National Trust have joined forces to restore Cornwall’s rare and unique heathland heritage. The project will link into the development of a North West European model for the social, economic and environmental management of heathlands.
The project will work on around 55 sites, the majority of which fall within the Cornwall AONB areas of The Lizard, West Penwith and St Agnes. The aim of the project is to restore heathlands to these sites by reintroducing traditional farmland management practices such at cutting, grazing and controlled burning. The project will help develop the economic value of heathland products in order to sustain heath friendly farming practices. It will also explore the cultural value of heathland, what they mean to the communities that live close to them, and the tourists that visit them.
The AONB unit hopes to work with officers over the duration of the project to promote the importance of the AONB protected landscape and wider landscape issues.
For more information on the Heath Project contact: 01209715424 or log on to http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/teams/Contacts.asp?Id=19
Bringing Cornwall’s Landscapes to Life!
The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is a collection of the county’s finest landscapes, nationally recognised as being special and unique. In order to conserve, restore and enhance these landscapes effectively we need information about them.
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Landscape Character Study aims to do just that. Since the beginning of May 2005, the Living Landscape Project group of consultants have been studying Cornwall’s landscapes in detail.
Examining the building blocks of what makes up Cornwall’s landscapes, such as soil type, geology, land use and settlement pattern have enabled the consultancy to produce a map of Cornwall that divides up the county into ‘Landscape Description Units’ (LDU’s). These parcels of land have been verified through a county wide field survey and the information gathered will provide the framework to aid landscape scale decision making.
Planners, developers and land managers alike will be able to view the information on a publicly available website which will be online early in 2006. The website will be accompanied by planning policy guidance and a supplementary planning document for adoption into Local Development Frameworks. This piece of work is ground breaking and will provide the AONB landscape with the tool it needs to enable consistent approach to planning and land management, across the county.
The study is funded by Cornwall County Council, Penwith District Council, Kerrier District Council, Restormel Borough Council, Cornwall, The Countryside Agency via the Isles of Scilly, Tamar Valley and Cornwall AONB units, and the National Trust. A management board of officers from these organisations meets monthly to keep the project on track, and reports to a wider consultation committee of stakeholder organisations. Contact the AONB unit to get involved in consultation workshops on the outputs of the study on the 11th, 12th and 13th of January.
For more information on the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly landscape Character Study, contact the AONB Unit.
World Heritage Site, Under the Spotlight
September saw the week long visit of an Assessor from the International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Professor Jose Maria Garcia de Migel.
The assessor toured sites on Bodmin Moor and the St Just area in the AONB, ending with a reception at Geevor Tin Mine. The purpose of his visit was to become familiar with the sites, review the boundaries, evaluate the management regime and review management effectiveness, review real and potential threats to the sites and property and evaluate local support.
The World Heritage Site bid team worked extremely hard showcasing the sites to the assessor, hosting a series of top level meetings with experts, officials, planning officers and bid supporters and even organising a helicopter tour to view the whole site from the air.
A report by the assessor will be considered by an ICOMOS panel with a final report and recommendation in early 2006.
The affordability of homes in the AONB is one of the major problems facing the protected landscape. The AONB landscape needs to be able to accommodate affordable housing to maintain sustainable communities but housing development has the potential to seriously erode the quality of the landscape through inappropriate siting and design.
Penwith District Council and the AONB unit have worked collaboratively on a project with Wardell-Armstrong Ltd consultancy to try to solve the problem of incorrect siting by developing a method to assess potential sites in terms of their landscape suitability.
The project focused on St Just and Pendeen in Penwith and trailed the methodology on these sites with the participation of members of Penwith DC’s Affordable Housing Task Group. The method will be presented to a wide range of stakeholders involved in affordable housing provision on Dec 6th. For more information contact the AONB Unit.
Over the past few months the unit has provided advice to local development control officers on several planning applications. Utilities development has been a major element, particularly applications from South West Water for sewage treatment works across the AONB. The unit has assisted with many of these applications and the AONB has featured significantly in the decision making process.
The unit has also been working strategically to rationalise the applications the unit becomes involved with by working with the District planners to develop a planning protocol which sets out the criteria by which the unit should be approached for advice and involvement.
Staffs from the Unit have been involved in the development of the South West Wave Hub via the Marine Renewable Working Group hosted by the Cornwall Sustainable Energy Partnership. The wave hub project is a national flagship and will be the first fully operational wave energy station in Britain, sited off Hayle Bay, supplying renewable energy directly to the National Grid. The development phase of the project is well underway with the results of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) due shortly. The Unit has wholeheartedly supported the project whilst ensuring that account has been taken of the AONB landscape, successfully requesting that an assessment of the visual impact of the development on the high coastal hills of the AONB be undertaken as part of the EIA.
Sustainable Development Fund- up and running
After much lobbying by the National Association of AONB’s (NAAONB) the AONB’s in England and wales have their own grant fund. ‘The Sustainable Development Fund’ (SDF). Run on a yearly basis the fund can support small scale sustainable development projects that meet the policy set out in the AONB management plan. This year our fund capital of 100K has been fully allocated. If you are interested in applying for an SDF grant next year, please contact the AONB Unit.
The AONB Partnership meets quarterly to discuss matters relating to the AONB. The September Partnership saw the Partners take a boat trip along the Carrick Roads to explore issues on the Fal Estuary. Roger Covey from Natural England highlighted the issues surrounding the Candidate Special Area of Conservation and Phil Dyke of The National Trust explained the Fal River Links Project which focused on the use of the ferry services as a more sustainable, integrated method of transportation. Actions from the partner meeting included addressing the concerns of officers over the ship to ship transfer of petroleum in the estuary and the effect of potential spillages on marine biodiversity and water quality.
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