Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership.

The Committee received a presentation from the Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership (GLNP) who gave an overview of the work that they did within Lincolnshire.  They were one of 48 local nature partnerships within England and worked across 49 partners within the County to deliver better biodiversity.

The presentation was given by Charlotte Philips who was the Manager of the Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership (GLNP) and Luke Bamforth, Policy Officer.

The Committee received an overview of the work carried out by the GLNP on the following issues:

·       Local Wildlife Sites and Local Geodiversity Sites system

·       Ancient Woodland inventory

·       Operation Water Vole

·       Local Nature Recovery Strategy

·       Policy work

·       Local Environmental Records Centre

·       Mapping

The GLNP partnered with 49 organisations which included all Councils in Greater Lincolnshire, Internal Drainage Boards, the Environment Agency, Anglian Water and locally within the community such as with the University of Lincoln, Lincolnshire Bird Club, Lincolnshire Bat group and a lot of other organisations.  The GLNP was hosted by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and they had an office within their building. 

The GLNP had five full time employees and covered an area from the Humber to the Wash.  The GLNP had a long history and had formed a bio-diversity partnership before the Government White Paper was introduced in 2011 which required Nature Partnerships to be formed.

One of the reasons that the GLNP was successful was that they hosted the Environmental Records Centre.  In theory Nature Partnerships should be in every County however, this was not the case and often there wasn’t a partnership or if there was, it was one person for one day a week.

Local Sites Systems covered local wildlife sites and local geodiversity sites and compiled data that the GLNP managed on behalf of South Kesteven and all other Councils in Greater Lincolnshire.  The sites had to be of a certain standard which was recognised as good for bio-diversity.  The sites were regularly monitored to see if they were doing well, if they were improving and whether they were under positive management. Although there was a lot of land within South Kesteven, a lot of the land was owned by land managers and farmers and therefore it was difficult to make sure the wildlife sites remained in a good state.  However, there were opportunities for new sites to be created such as wetlands.

Operation Water Vole was then discussed which concerned the eradication of the American Mink which was an invasive species within the UK and preyed on the Water Vole.  The GLNP was working in partnership with the Life Recovery Trust to fully eradicate the American Mink from Lincolnshire within the next two years.  The American Mink had already been eradicated from Norfolk and Suffolk. It was hoped within five years the American Mink species would be eradicated from the whole country.  Lincolnshire was a strong hold for the Water Vole due to the large number of drains and ditches which covered the area and once the Mink had been eradicated it was hoped that Lincolnshire would be a hub for the Water Vole within the whole country.

Another project was in respect of Ancient Woodland.  A lot of work was being done compiling data and keeping it to date. Currently a desktop exercise was being carried out comparing old maps with aerial photography to identify ancient woodland. Once the desktop exercise had been completed fieldwork would be undertaken.  When the last compilation was carried out in the 1980’s anything under two hectares had not been considered and it was hoped that following the exercise new areas of ancient woodland would be found.  Ancient woodland was an irreplaceable habitat, once it was lost it was gone for good and it was incredibly important.

The Local Nature Recovery Strategy was the main issue to come out of the Environment Act and every County within the UK was taking part.  Lincolnshire County Council was responsible for the Strategy but a lot of the work was being undertaken by the GLNP due to the partnerships already in place looking at a plan to recover nature.  Conservation was no longer enough and the UK was one of the most depleted countries in the world.  The Local Nature Recovery Strategy was made up of a Statement of Biodiversity Priorities and also a Local Habitat Map.

Working Groups were held regularly with communities, businesses, environmental organisations, farmers and land managers as well as local planning authorities to discuss the priorities set out and to map all the information on local wildlife sites. Areas where direct nature recovery to connect landscapes and link them up was needed, to enable climate resilience and make a functioning ecosystem and direct bio-diversity net gain into the right places.

Members from South Kesteven were already involved and currently they were in the middle of engagement with lots of working groups.  In person events with land managers and farmers were proposed to gather all the information and input it into the strategy.  Consultation would be later in the year with the publication scheduled for March 2025.  Although the Council had the responsibility to make the strategy there was no responsibility to fulfil the strategy.  It was therefore up to the GLNP to deliver the content within the three to ten year timeframe until the Secretary of State indicated when the next Strategy would be compiled.

The Record Centre was then discussed. As South Kesteven was a partner, there was an open access to environmental records.  The system was a fully automated on-line system which was very easy to use.  An example was then given of how the system worked and the information that could be accessed.

Policy priorities were then discussed which covered:

Farming with nature – farming more sustainably

Being well with nature – research into how valuable nature was to mental and physical health and wellbeing

Planning with nature – special and strategic planning, consultation on local plans

Enjoying nature – projects enabling nature to be enjoyed such as the Lincolnshire bird trail which was being worked on with Visit Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire County Council, RSPB Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.

Work had been undertaken with South Kesteven since the 2018 Local Plan and a statement of common ground was entered into on how the development of the environmental policy could help with the bio-diversity net gain data. Screening potential sites and how these were impacted.  Looking at priority sites for diversity opportunities and how sustainable development can benefit the natural environment.

Other work considered the development of mapping tools and the use of GIS data and examples on bio-diversity mapping were given to the Committee on how these worked and what they could be used for.

Members of the GLNP were thanked for the interesting presentation and the information given and answered Members questions which covered production of strategies, access to the environmental data, the eradication of the American Mink, loss of habitat, the clearance of dykes and ditches and the effect on the Water Voles, networking with farmers and land Managers and river crayfish.