Landscape Conservation ENVS1

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Landscape Conservation for Informal Public Recreation - ENVS1

• increased affluence, leisure time, car owners -> people are spending more time in the countryside -> important to conserve landscape

Landscape protection

• conserving aesthetic appeal
• maintenance of natural features/features produced by human activities
• eg. woodlands/hedgerows/stone walls/in-field trees/ditches/ponds
• some protected by preventing damaging activites
• others need active management -> counteract natural processes (eg. ecological succession)

Landscape enhancement

• planting small woodland areas
• replacing conifers with mixed indigenous species
• 'soft' riverbank management
• restoration of river meanders

Visitor management

• careful provision of facilities that do not damage the countryside
• eg. paths/car parks/information points/recreational facilities
• can be designed to fit into surroundings -> traditional designs, local materials
• paths made of sand/gravel/stone
• buildings/signs made of wood
• car parks divided up with hedgesto disguise their size, and protective matting grass instead of tarmac
• people will usually stay near the facilities available to them - the honeypot sites (areas that are attractive to visitors) -> protects sensitive wildlife sites and prevents disturbance
• a honeypot site could include a visitors centre, cafe, toilets, guided walks

Governmental Organisations

Natural England/ Countryside Council for Wales

• desginate areas for landscape conservation
• set up controls/regulations -> must be followed by landowners/other users
• protects against undesirable change
• damaging changes prevented -> clearance of woodlands/urban expansion
• beneficial management activities are carried out -> grazing meadows/moorlands to stop ecological succession and maintain the plagioclimax

National Parks

• the original 10 National Parks in UK were established in the 1950s following the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act (1949) -> a response to growing demand for public access to the countryside
• designated by Natural England (see above)
• AIMS:
  • to conserve and enhance their natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage
  • to promote opportunities for understanding and enjoyment
  • to maintain the rural economy

• as they do not own the National Parks, the National Park Authority (organisation that runs a National Park) manage them by controlling the activites of landowners through planning  and development restricitions and management agreements
• despite the aims being to protect and conserve, some controversial developments have taken place that seem to contradict the aims -> these are usually justified as being for the 'greater national good'
• Some examples:
  • military training
  • reservoirs (flooding threatens habitats)
  • quarrying
  • conifer plantations
  • tourism developments
  • nuclear power stations/hydro electric power/wind farms
• There are also conflicts of interest within the National Parks:
  • erosion - large numbers of people walking/cyclists/horse riders - soil erosion
    • can be prevented by directing visitors away from vulnerable areas or using resistant suraces for paths -> gravel, wood
  • congestion - large numbers of visitors in cars cause traffic congestion and increase pollution
    • encouraged use of public transport or bikes
  • disturbance of wildlife - trampled vegetation/ disruption of ground nesting birds, repeated disturbance can cause breeding failure
    • restricted access of vulnerable areas
  • litter - can cause livestock/wildlife to choke, become entangled and be injured   -> broken glass can act as a magnifying glass on sunny days and start fires
    • no litter signs, more bins, perhaps and litter fine
  • displacement of local community - living in a scenically beautiful area has attracted people to buy houses for retirement or as holiday homes, reducing number of houses available to local residents and driving house prices up -> restrictions on development prevent new houses being built to meet demand
    • houses can be built specifically for locals (eg. in Exmoor)
  • conflicts between recreational users - quiet activites such as walking/canoeing can be disturbed by water skiing/helicopter flights
    • speed limits for boats (eg. Lake District)

Areas of Outstanding National Beauty (AONBs)

• designated for landscape qualities for the purpose of conserving and enhancing their natural beauty
  • includes landform, geology, plants, animals, landscape features, history of human settlement
• designated by Natural England, but administered by the County Council
• areas of scenic and recreational amenity value, like National Parks
• generally less wild/remote and usually in hilly/lowland areas
• more intensively used that National Parks, so agriculture, rural industry and residential areas are more important
  • inappropriate to place restrictions on these
• fewer opportunities for open air recreation
• rights of public access not an aim
• proposals for developments are controlled by planning regulations -> less strict than National Parks
• housing developments permitted for local needs, expanding existing industry permitted but new industry is not

Heritage Coasts

• designated by Natural England
• finest stretches of undeveloped coastline -> need to be protected from development, public access may be increased where appropriate

National Trails or Long-Distance Footpaths

• designated by Natural England
• establish public rights of way through landscape of great scenic value
• created by linking footpaths, bridleways and minor roads to produce routes for walkers/cyclists/horse riders

DEFRA

• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• agri-environmental schemes, eg. ESS (Environmental Stewardship Scheme)
• some aspects maintain historically important features of landscapes, eg. dry stone walls
• others protect wildlife but also affect the appearance of the landscape, eg. hedgerows

Local Authorities

Country parks

• areas of land, usually in/near urban centres, intended to provide informal recreational opportuinites for the public
• many are abandoned/redeveloped industrial sites, or have others uses such as plantations, reservoirs

Urban Greenspace

• in urban areas/urban parks 
• provided for people that rarely see the countryside

Non-Governmental Organisations

The National Trust

• protect threatened coastline, countryside and buildings
• protects over 1130km of coastline
• 250000 hectares of countyside
• habitats managed/created for wildlife -> traditional techniques -> organic farming
• enourage use of public transport

Land-use conflicts

Major causes:

• urban expansion - increased population -> increased housing demand
  • where possible, brownfield sites used
  • many houses are on urban green spaces or where single buildings are replaced with several
  • increased overcrowding and congestion -> reduced quality of life
  • alternatives - build on greenfield sites (eg. farmland) around the urban area, or in new towns
• transport developments 
  • road schemes - road usage has increased
    • congestion caused has lead to many schemes to expand existing roads/build new ones
  • proposed/enlarged airports - growth in air travel
    • usually near urban areas
    • results in loss of farmland, natural habitats, rural communities
    • noise and congestion problems
  • port developments - trade has increased, carried by sea
    • ports in sheltered locations -> estuaries -> destruction of sensitive habitats
• mining/quarrrying
  • minerals only extracted when found in large deposits
  • often extracted in lowland areas where farmland is more fertile and population density is high
• harnessing energy
  • windfarms
    • windiest places often most scenically attractive -> eg. coastal areas
    • people think windfarm spoil view
    • noise/sunlight reflected from blades can be a problem for locals
    • habitat loss caused by construction
    • rotating blades can kill birds
• HEP (hydroelectric power)
  • often located in scenically beautiful areas - uplands
• tidal barrages
  • impacts sensitive estuary habitats -> due to changes in water level, currents, turbidity

All of these schemes have impacts, but without alternative energy methods, using fossil fuels could potentially be more damaging.

Recreation/Tourism

• increased visitors
• damage by congestion, trampling, facility provision (carparks etc.)
• activites of visitors may conflict

Waste Disposal

• landfill sites take up land, release methane
• incinerators are unpopular with locals
• recycling requires public cooperation

Resolving Land-Use Conflicts

• Planning Controls
• permission needs to be granted
  • planning application made to local planning authority
  • if proposal is controversial/large -> public enquiry is held
  • all interested groups have the opportunity to present their cases to an independent inspector
  • the inspector compiles a report
  • submitted to the Secretary of State
  • usually accepts inspector's recommendation, but can overrule if there is a greater national priority

• Areas with strict planning controls
  • National Parks
    • virtually no urban developments permitted -> unless essential/very desirable for local community
    • new housing restricted to needs of local community
    • buildings must be appropriate -> local materials, traditional designs

• Green belts
  • prevent urban sprawl
  • administered by DEFRA
  • planning permission not usually granted within green belt unless refusing it would cause more problems -> eg. not widening a road - greater congestion
  • AIMS
    • protecting surrounding countryside from further invasion
    • stop neighbouring urban areas merging into one huge urban area
    • reduce congestion/loss of character
    • encourage urban regeneration of derelict brownfield sites within the urban area -> may have been abandoned as it is cheaper to develop into surrounding countryside
  • PROBLEMS
    • shortage of development -> land prices increase -> other developments more expensive -> disadvantage those on lower incomes
    • shortage of land for building -> encourages development of green spaces with in central area -> increases population density/congestion
    • new developments may 'leapfrog' green belt -> grow into new towns -> increases travel across green belt -> people may work inside green belt but live outside of it
• Green wedges
  • same purposes as above
  • provide undeveloped areas of land in between where development is permitted
  • restricts new urban growth, but keeps it in contact with existing urban areas
  • provides green corridors linking surrounding countryside with central urban area

• Space Zoning
  • allocating different parts of an area to activites that would conflict if they occured in the same place
  • some areas are sensitive to visitor pressure -> trampling, disturbance
• Time zoning
  • allocating different time periods to activites that would conflict if they took place at the same time

Assessment of Environmental Impacts

• Leopold Matrix
  • compares all overall impacts of a proposal
    • by considering each aspect seperately and assessing the severity of impact caused
  • combined to produce assessment of overall impact
  • physical/biological/social aspects looked at, given a score /10 depending on the magnitude of the impact
  • prevents too much importance being put on one effect, when many medium impacts could be worse
• Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)
  • must be followed for major developments before they are granted development consent
  • ensures possible environmental impacts are considered
  • includes possible modifications of alternatives that would reduce its impact
  • Main stages are:
    • description of proposal
    • description of environment -> populations, animals, plants, air, soik, water, humans, landscape, cultural heritage
    • description of impacts -> often involves use of a Leopold Matrix (see above)
    • modifications that would reduce environmental impacts
    • possible alternatives
    • non-technical summary
    • summary must be published and must be understood by public
• Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • financial value given to all components
  • financial benefits/costs
  • eg. factors that could be include in a Cost-Benefit Analysis for a proposed mine includes:
    • Costs:
      • land/labour/material for access roads
      • costs of buying land for mine
      • labour/machinery/fuel for mine operations
      • lost income from tourists/visitors
      • reduced values of housing nearby
    • Benefits
      • increased local employment
      • improved transport access for industries using roads that were built
      • future benefits -> mine possibly developed into a country park etc.
  • Difficult to give a financial value to quality of life, people affected, wildlife affected etc.
  • When analysis is complete, costs subtracted from benefits -> if costs too high then the proposal may not go ahead