Environmental Impacts

 

Listed below are some examples of Access to the Countryside work undertaken recently by Asken. Other work undertaken can be found by clicking on the links below.

 

Access to the Countryside
Agriculture and Rural Development

Hen Harriers Monitoring Project

Lancashire County Council

Ever since the introduction of CRoW Part I, Lancashire county Council and Natural England have been concerned about the risk of increased public access adversely affecting breeding success of hen harriers in the Bowland Fells.  Management measures were agreed and introduced along with the new access rights.  A monitoring programme has been in place since 2005 and Asken is analysing the various datasets in order to explore the possibilities of a link between public access and hen harriers.

 

Guidance on Production of Environmental Codes of Practice

Countryside Council for Wales

There is a proliferation of codes of good practice, many of which try to help people reduce their environmental impact.  However, approaches to code production vary widely and little is done to check on their effectiveness.  Asken, working with Resources For Change, were commissioned to prepare guidance on good practice to help organisations produce better codes.

 

Balancing The Needs Of Navigation And Nature Conservation

Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council

Asken provided expertise on stakeholder consultation methods, as part of a team led by the Freshwater Biological Association.  The project involved a review of good practice guidance and how this can be used to help build consensus between competing interests.

 

Access-Nature Conservation: Best Practice Handbook

English Nature

Working with Penny Anderson Associates and Footprint Ecology, Asken prepared a Best Practice Handbook.  The Handbook provides scientifically-justified guidance on the management of public access at sites of nature conservation importance.

 

Common Land Project

English Nature/Entec UK Ltd

Entec undertook a project to consider the management options for common land in the south of England and their effects on nature conservation interests.  Asken was sub-contracted by Entec to provide advice on common land law and how it may affect the formulation of management options.

 

Nature Conservation and Recreation

English Nature/Penny Anderson Associates Ltd

Little has been done to collate information about the environmental impacts of different recreational activities.  PAA Ltd and Asken Ltd were commissioned to look at a range of activities and, for each activity:

-         describe the activity

-         identify trends in participation

-         search for information about impacts of the activity on the natural environment

 

Dogs, Access and Nature Conservation

English Nature

One aspect of public access that causes great concern amongst land managers – be they farmers or nature reserve managers – is the effect of dogs that accompany people. Asken and Penny Anderson Associates Ltd were commissioned to research the subject and provide a more objective understanding of the effects of dogs on nature conservation, and identify best practice in dealing with sites where dogs are a cause for genuine concern.  The work has now been published as ENRR 649.

 

Management Plan for Cannock Chase SSSI

Staffordshire County Council/Penny Anderson Associates

Cannock Chase is an important resource for nature conservation and amenity.  Much of it is also common land.  However, it has not been used for agriculture for many years and grazing rights have been largely extinguished.  Staffordshire County Council is committed to improving the management of the site, including the re-introduction of grazing.  Asken advised PAA on land management issues, ranging from question about the common land status, through the legal classification of stock to disease risks.

 

Remediation of Basin Fens

English Nature/Penny Anderson Associates

Basin fens are important habitats but are vulnerable to nutrient enrichment from agricultural and other sources.  Asken provided agricultural/land management expertise to a team of environmentalists looking at ways in which nutrient enrichment can be curtailed and the fens remediated.

 

Management of SSSIs in Unfavourable Condition

United Utilities/Penny Anderson Associates

Asken provided agricultural/land management expertise to PAA which was assisting United Utilities bid for funds (allocated through the AMP4 process) to enable United Utilities to encourage tenants to modify management on upland SSSIs that are deemed to be in unfavourable condition.  UU’s bid was successful and, as a result, it has launched the SCaMP project.

 

Review of Land Management Incentives for Protected Areas

Scottish Natural Heritage

Asken led a project (which included the Countryside and Community Research Unit of Cheltenham College) to consider what features of the design of land management incentives could be most effectively used in Scotland’s protected areas.  The review encompassed similar schemes in the British Isles and four selected countries on mainland Europe.

 

Wildwoods Project
Woodland Policy Group/Worrell Forestry and Penny Anderson Associates

Asken provided specialist expertise on land use policy implications/constraints of proposals to develop new 'wildwoods' in remote areas of Great Britain.  In a subsequent project, Asken assisted PAA in looking at how the concept might be implemented more widely, especially in England and Wales.

 

Integrated Land Management Plan for Catterick Training Area
Entec/Ministry of Defence

Asken undertook the preparation of the final version of the Integrated Land Management Plan for the military training area at Catterick, North Yorkshire.  The Plan comprised eight separate components:

 

  • Military training
  • Agriculture and estate management
  • Cultural heritage/archaeology
  • Landscape
  • Nature conservation
  • Pollution management
  • Public liaison/access
  • Woodlands

The ILMP brought together and reconciled conflicting/competing interests in the use of the training areas to provide a basis for on-going management of the areas.

 

Environmental Impact Assessment
Burford Carrington Ltd

Asken was retained to provide advice on the agricultural aspects of an environmental impact assessment. The EIA concerned a major transport infrastructure development on a greenfield site currently used for arable cropping.

 


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Last Update 01/08