Planning for wildlife
Luke Bristow Wildlife Sites Officer, Essex Wildlife Trust, The Joan Elliot Visitor
Centre, Abbotts Hall Farm, Great Wigborough lukeb@essexwt.org.uk
COUNTY WILDLIFE SITES
County Wildlife Sites or CWS's (formerly known as SINC's) are non-statutory sites
recognised for their local nature conservation value; they have no legal protection, but
are a material consideration when planning applications are determined and government
guidance states that there should be:
"..a general presumption against development on these sites".
In Essex there are currently over 1500 Sites, and they compliment the network of legally
protected sites, such as SSSI's. However, unlike SSSFs which protect only a representative
sample, CWS's offer protection to all sites that meet the selection criteria.
In April, DEFRA is set to publish new guidelines for non-statutory wildlife sites. This
presents Essex with an opportunity to reinvigorate its own County Wildlife Site system,
which has largely been neglected since the sites were first identified in 1990. Despite
government guidance which states:
"Local Authorities should provide leadership in establishing and maintaining
partnerships to identify and manage local sites"
Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) have generally remained indifferent towards County
Wildlife Sites, and, with no statutory duty, they appear likely to continue to do so. For
example, 9 out of the Counties 14 LPAs have not reviewed their sites in over 15 years.
This leaves many new sites, such as brownfield habitats, unprotected and existing ones
increasingly difficult to defend from development as survey data passes out-of-date.
Essex Wildlife Trust believe the threat posed from development is so great, e.g. we are
to receive the highest volume of housing in the East of England, that re-establishing a
CWS system is an urgent priority, and we have already invited representatives from
DEFRA, English Nature, Forestry Commission, Environment Agency, Essex Field Club,
Essex County Council and FWAG to join a CWS partnership hosted by the Trust. In
addition, we are establishing and strengthening links within local authority planning
departments to ensure sites are given the correct priority in forward planning and
development control, in accordance with national policies.
Once established, some of the key tasks the partnership will need to address include:
• Establishing a standardised and robust selection criteria
• Establishing a definitive County Wildlife Site register;
• Ensuring LPA's refer to the register, and include consistent development control
polices within new planning documents;
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 50, May 2006
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