NEW THREAT TO THE HABITAT AND BIRDS OF CHOBHAM COMMON

As members will know, Chobham Common forms part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (the SPA) and as such is protected under the European Habitats and European Birds Directives. These directives require the Government to ensure that the rare breeding birds which use the SPA are protected. However, at present under the South East of England Regional Plan the Government has a target to build 40,000 new dwellings within 5km of the SPA by 2016 and surveys have shown that the breeding success of these birds can be affected by the recreational use of the SPA by people.

To prevent an increase in the number of visitors to the SPA which a higher level of housing would generate, Natural England (formerly English Nature) has prepared a Draft Delivery Plan which is designed to create suitable alternative natural green space (SANGS). The purpose of these additional open green spaces is to provide new areas for recreational use (eg dog walking) so that in spite of the increase in the number of dwellings there would be no greater use of the SPA because those new spaces would attract visitors who would otherwise go to the SPA. A key feature of this Plan is that before allowing new developments within 5km of the SPA their impact upon the SPA should be assessed "in combination with" all other developments.

Over the last six months this plan has been subjected to close examination by a Government Inspector to determine its practicality and whether it would allow the plans for another 40,000 dwellings to go ahead without serious harm to the SPA, as required by the Birds Directive. One of the Inspector's recommendations, however, is that the plan should be modified to allow developments of 10 or fewer additional dwellings to go ahead without consideration of their in combination effect, regardless of how many such developments there might be.

SPAE considers this recommendation poses a serious threat to the future viability of the SPA (in our case Chobham Common) as it would allow developers to restart building apartment blocks in this area but of 10 flats instead of the 14 they have favoured over the last few years. Without the provision of alternative open green space the occupants of these dwellings could be expected to visit the SPA.

We have, therefore, submitted a Statement to the Panel which is to consider, in public, the Inspector's recommendations, expressing our concern over what we see as a serious weakening of Natural England's attempts to ensure the SPA is not harmed by increased recreational use. A copy of that Statement is below together with a copy of the RSPB's Press Release expressing their own concerns about the Inspector's recommendations. Our statement, together with those of Participants in the enquiry, can be found on the Panel's website at www.eipsoutheast.co.uk.

DRAFT SOUTH EAST ENGLAND REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY EXAMINATION IN PUBLIC

Matter 8: Sub-Regional Strategy. Submatter 8Hiv/8Jiv Thames Basin Heaths SPA

NON-PARTICIPANTS STATEMENT BY THE

SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ASCOT AND ENVIRONS

President : M W Clegg

Vice Presidents : Lord Elibank and S G Errington CBE DL

1. Introduction

1.1 The Society was formed in 1971 and currently has some 1300 individual members and 15 Residents’ Associations as corporate members, drawn from the Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale areas. We offer support to the Local Planning Authority in the implementation of development control based on Structure and Local Plans and we seek to ensure the protection of the character of our area of benefit and the amenities within it. Our Executive Committee meets at least once every month to discuss planning applications and Appeals that affect the area covered by the Society. Many of our members make use of the Thames Basin Heaths SPA for recreational purposes and are concerned to see that its unique habitat, appearance and wildlife receives the protection that the European Habitats Directive and European Birds Directive intended. At the same time we would not wish to see present levels of access reduced or restricted which we would consider a serious loss of amenity.

1.2 Against that background the Society asks that in considering the Assessor's Report the Panel takes into account the concerns which the Society has about the Report and its recommendations and which are set out below.

2. Failure to take into account the in combination effect of an unquantified number of housing schemes of 10 or fewer dwellings

2.1 The Society has been surprised that a recommendation has been made to remove from the Delivery Plan process schemes of 10 or fewer dwellings within 1km to 5km of the SPA. Not only is there no evidence as to the number of such schemes which would come forward but if their collective in combination effect is not taken into account in considering the impact an increased level of housing would have upon the SPA there would appear to be conflict with the requirements of the Habitats Directive.

2.2 In the area in which the Society has an interest we consider the in combination impact upon the SPA of schemes of 10 or fewer dwellings could be considerable. Locally we have a high number of windfall housing schemes arising from the demolition of single family homes with large gardens (a feature of this area) and their replacement with apartment blocks. Because in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) there is currently an affordable housing threshold of 15 dwellings per development, schemes for which planning permissiom is sought are being designed to fit under that threshold. In the Society's opinion the creation of a Delivery Plan threshold of 11 dwellings will have a corresponding effect, with future schemes being designed to fit under this new threshold. We confidently predict, therefore, that in this area there would be a considerable number of such smaller schemes for which the in combination effect upon the SPA could be significant but which would not be taken into account.

2.3 We are strengthened in this view following an examination of all planning applications for the year 2005 for the parishes of Ascot and Sunninghill. Of those applications 38 were for a net increase in the number of dwellings on a site. The breakdown by number of net additional dwellings was:

Net additional dwellings No. of applications in 2005

1-5 24

6-10 6

11-14 7

15-20 nil (affordable housing threshold)

21-25 nil

26-30 1

2.4 It is not clear to us how the threshold of 10 recommended by the Assessor has been arrived at. Locally a threshold of 5 would have allowed through 24 of the 38 applications in 2005. Should this pattern be replicated elsewhere it would suggest that, initially at least, if the concept of a threshold could be shown not be in conflict with the Habitats Directive, it should be set no higher than 5. A lower threshold, perhaps combined with provision for its periodic review in the light of the progress being made with the other recommendations in the Report, in our opinion would better reflect the need for a precautionary approach than the threshold of 10 recommended by the Assessor.

3. Failure to attach sufficient weight to the potential for an increase over time in the recreational use of the SPA irrespective of an increase in the level of housing within 5km.

3.1 There are two factors which we consider could have a potentially harmful impact upon the SPA but which do not appear to have been given sufficient weight. These are the liklihood of increased usage by cyclists with their disproportionate impact and changes in the age profile of residents within 5km.

3.2 It is the Government's policy to encourage methods of travel other than by car and effect is being given to this through the plannning system by requiring appropriate new developments to include a facility for the safe storage of cycles. All recent apartment blocks erected in our area have this provision and an increase in ownership and use of cycles is a not unreasonable assumption. Time needed to reach the SPA by cycle is short and there are many local access points. It is our contention that one mountain biker can have a wholly disproportionate impact upon the SPA's habitat and birdlife compared to that of a walker. There are two reasons for this. Firstly mountain bikers see as a challenge the creation of new tracks across areas of heather where there is no path (thereby opening up a new route for walkers); and secondly this type of harm is not restricted to the bird breeding season. New paths fragment, in particular, Nightjar territories reducing their breeding viability and even when created in the winter have an effect the following breeding season when Nightjars return. New paths can also take walkers and their dogs closer to nesting sites of the Dartford Warbler. It appears to the Society that this factor has not been given sufficient weight in the Report.

3.3 The Society understands that locally the average age of the population is increasung, no doubt assisted by the replacement of single family homes with apartment blocks, largely of two bedroom flats, which are attractive to people who have retired. An increase in the proportion of residents who have retired is likely to result in greater recreational use of the SPA even with no increase in the population level. Again there appears to have been no allowance for this in the projections made in the Report.

4. An over-optimistic assessment of the rate at which SANGS can be provided

4.1 The Society notes that in a reference to the provision of SANGS in the RBWM (paragraph 4.6.14 of the Report) the Assessor has taken an optimistic view of the prospect of using Windsor Great Park in that capacity. However, there are a number of characteristics of the Great Park which appear to the Society to make it unsuitable as a SANGS even in the longer term. Those areas of the Park which are open to the public are already used extensively for recreational purposes by local residents and by visitors from farther afield (we understand it is estimated that the southern area of the Park attracts some 600,000 visitors per year). The area therefore lacks the lower levels of human activity which makes the quieter and open habitat of the SPA so attractive. Additionally dogs are required to be kept under strict control or on a lead and there are car park charges for stays of longer than 90 minutes in one car park and a fixed charge of £2 at another. The Park is, itself, subject to protection under the European Habitats Directive as a Special Conservation Area.

4.2 The Society considers, therefore, that in this area there is not a strong underlying evidential base at this point in time for the assumption made by the Assessor that sufficient SANGS can be provided to prevent a significant adverse effect on the SPA.

5. The Society's Conclusion

5.1 We consider that as far as the area of interest of the Society is concerned, the Assessor's Report includes recommendations that if implemented would make unsafe the conclusion reached in paragraph 9.1 that "the level of housing currently allocated in the Draft South East Plan ... should not have a significant adverse effect on the SPA". We are particularly concerned that the proposal to allow small developments to proceed would result in their in combination effect not being taken into acount as required by the Habitats Directive.

5.2 As local residents we are concerned to ensure that neither the habitat nor the avifauna of the Thames Basin Heaths SPA is harmed and we fully support, therefore, the strategy devised by Natural England which gives due weight to the precautionary principle and the need for a sufficient and permanent supply of suitable alternative natural green space to be made available in mitigation. We welcome the Assessor's general support for this strategy and for the proposal that a whole SPA approach is needed. We are mindful, however, of the fact that new housing once constructed will have a life well beyond that of the present South East Plan and should the potential for significant harm to the SPA have been underestimated that problem could not then be remedied by the removal of dwellings already erected.

Society for the Protection of Ascot and Environs

March 2007

Thames Basin Heaths Briefing

Heathland in the South East

Lowland heathland, characterised by heather and gorse, is a globally rare wildlife habitat. In the UK, more than 75% of the heathlands that once covered large parts of southern England have been lost. Despite its recognised importance, the heathland that does remain is still under threat, particularly from the housing targets proposed for the South East region.

The Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA) covers 8,400ha in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire. It is internationally important for three of the UK’s scarcer breeding birds: Dartford warbler, woodlark and nightjar that depend on heathlands for their survival. The SPA is also a vitally important habitat for a unique range of heathland wildlife including reptiles, plants and insects.

Unique wildlife under threat

Although as an SPA, the Thames Basin Heaths are protected by law, the current housing targets represent a major threat to these heathland sites. To meet the existing allocations, approximately 40,000 new houses will need to be built around the Thames Basin Heaths by 2016. Further increases in the South East Plan may step up the threat even further.

The effects of urban pressures on our remaining heathlands are well understood, and documented. Damage to the heaths and their wildlife can take a variety of forms; from fly-tipping and invasion of exotic garden plants, to predation and disturbance from domestic cats and dogs. However, increased recreational use of the large, relatively open heathland areas is one of the biggest problems facing the Thames Basin Heaths. Increased visitors to these fragile areas, particularly by dog-walkers, can cause direct disturbance, leading to nest desertion, or the increased risk of predation to the chicks and adult birds by natural predators such as crows and foxes. The three priority heathland birds all nest on or close to the ground and are therefore particularly susceptible to this type of disturbance or predation.

How to protect these sites?

The law requires that developments affecting an SPA are subject to an assessment of the damage they will cause, both alone and in combination with other developments impacting on the heaths. The scale of new housing pressure around the Thames Basin now means that while a relatively small housing development may not lead to damage to the SPA on its own, combined with the large number of other such developments around the heaths, it is contributing to a cumulative impact, and so must now be subject to an appropriate assessment.

Until now, there has been no agreed method of assessing the recreational impact of such applications alone and in combination. This presents a major problem for ensuring compliance with the Habitats Regulations and the delivery of housing and has led to inconsistent approaches by local authorities, lengthy delays in the planning system and, in the worst cases, time-consuming and costly public inquiries.

In an effort to avoid these problems, and ensure that wildlife and recreation can continue to coexist successfully, Natural England is proposing a strategic approach to mitigating recreational impacts, known as the Thames Basin Heaths Delivery Plan. The Delivery Plan is an entirely new approach to spatial planning, whereby individual housing applications will not need to be individually assessed, and mitigation can be provided strategically.

The key principles of the plan are:

1 Within 400m of the SPA boundary there is a presumption against any development as it is considered extremely unlikely that the impact of new residential development within 400m could be effectively mitigated, as required under the Habitats Regulations.

2 Any new residential development between 400m and 5km of the SPA should be subject to mitigation.

3 Mitigation would be in the form of alternative, accessible open space, in conjunction with access and visitor management measures on the SPA, paid for by the developer at a rate set by the relevant local authority.

4 The level of financial contribution from developers would be relative to the number of new residents that the development would generate and the distance of the proposed development from the SPA boundary.

It should be noted that the Delivery Plan is aimed to address the in-combination impacts of recreation for all new residential developments; larger developments, which may bring about additional impacts on the heaths, would still require individual assessment under the Habitats Regulations

RSPB position statement

The RSPB believes that continued housing development around the Thames Basin Heaths is unsustainable and contrary to the requirements of the Habitats Regulations. We believe the Delivery Plan approach could provide a much-needed solution to the ongoing pressures of residential development around the Thames Basin Heaths, by providing certainty to developers and planning authorities, while ensuring a sustainable future for the heathlands and the residents living around the Thames Basin Heaths.

By protecting these internationally important wildlife sites and species, a significant contribution to the socio-economic well-being of the area can be made, by providing the resources to enhance public health and well-being. It gives us the green infrastructure necessary to the sustainable regeneration of communities and which reflects the Government’s own guiding principles on sustainable development.

To ensure a consistent approach and clarity for all stakeholders across the Thames Basin Heaths, it is important that all local authorities incorporate the Delivery Plan into their Local Development Frameworks. We acknowledge that this will take time and, therefore, we support moves by some local authorities to develop shorter term ‘mini plans’, attached to existing Local Plans, which will tackle the issues in the interim period.

The veracity of the Delivery Plan is presently being tested at the regional planning level, through the Examination in Public of the draft South East Plan. This is a critical test of the acceptability of the Delivery Plan and its application through the regional and local planning systems. We are working with Natural England to develop the Delivery Plan at the regional level and ensure that the final strategy is scientifically robust and complies with the requirements of the relevant laws that protect the Thames Basin Heaths.