Minutes:
Alison Boden, Wyre Borough Council
The Discover Bowland brochure which has been devised has been well received by everybody. Volunteers and full-time rangers have done a good job.
Garstang Walking Festival
The Garstang Walking Festival again was a huge success this year. Plans for next year's event are well underway, with around 50 walks and events having been organised. The Festival dates will be 2-15 May 2016.
The Walks from Garstang is a project linked with Healthy Streets and Alison shared the leaflet with the Committee. The leaflet has been funded and the photo on the back is of the volunteers who have created it and also walked the routes. It has been found to be a useful piece of literature and it will be going on the website too. Partnership working with Thornton and Caldervale is also taking place to promote it further. It has been a great success.
The River Wyre Catchment Project (as reported at the last meeting on 23 April 2015) is still on-going and reports are being produced from it. It is hoped that the project will continue next year as there is still a lot more work to do. River Lune and the River Ribble have similar projects also.
Helen Dix, Environment Agency (EA) (presented by Elliott Lorimer)
EA are working with United Utilities (UU) and other partners to formalise a way of preventing UU abstraction points from holding back sediment in the River Langden. At the moment an intake for raw drinking water provides a barrier for gravel which would otherwise move naturally down the river in times of high flow. The gravel blocks up the intake and would otherwise provide important habitat for invertebrates and fish downstream. A group of organisations, also including the Ribble Rivers Trust and the Hodder Fisheries Consultative trialled an approach of reintroducing the gravel (digging it out of the intake and moving it downstream of the barrier) so it could continue to move downstream with the flow. This was successful, so the EA are now supporting UU and working on an agreement for this to become a long-term way of working.
A weir and ford on Kettles Beck (NE corner of the AONB) was recently removed in a partnership between the EA, Amey (construction company), United Utilities and the Lune Rivers Trust. The weir and ford were impeding the passage of fish so it was removed and replaced by a bridge.
EA unfortunately had to investigate a few fish kill incidents in the AONB over the Summer – one on Waddington Brook at Waddington and one on West Bradford Brook. EA think these were due to intense rainfall following a period of hot, sunny weather which resulted in warm water flushing into the watercourses. Many species of fish are intolerant to high water temperatures and it holds less oxygen than cold water. As EA couldn’t find any evidence of pollution, they think the temperature change was the cause.
Ribble Life Together –The Ribble Rivers Trust (on behalf of the Ribble Life Catchment Partnership) were recently successful in securing funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the development of a programme of improvements across the Ribble Catchment. The EA is supporting this development phase and there are several projects which are being developed within the AONB, including some farm advisor training and river walks which Hetty would be able to elaborate on if required.
The Wyre and Lune Catchment Partnership are also making progress and have delivered some fencing and tree planting projects aimed at reducing diffuse pollution from agriculture. I believe these have been outside of the AONB boundary, but other representatives (e.g. Alison Boden) may be able to elaborate if required.
David Porter – Lancaster City Council
David gave an update on the North West Coastal Connections project that is happening in southern Cumbria and North Lancashire, which will also create around 1000 jobs. National Grid are proposing building a tunnel and infrastructure to reduce visual intrusion around Morecambe Bay. The new grid connection will end at Heysham and will therefore have little or no effect on the Forest of Bowland AONB.
A consultation by Lancaster City Council is about to commence on a plan outlining potential sites for future development in the district, including commercial and residential sites. Significant development sites are proposed for Dolphinholme and east of the M6, near Caton on the western side of AONB. Details are available on the City Council website.
Michael Williams – Pendle Borough Council
The Pendle Walking Festival took place between 15-23 August 2015 and a large number of the 68 walks were in Bowland. A competition was held to encourage families to take part in the festival and this proved to be popular. It will be held again in 2016 in the school holidays and the week before the Blues Festival.
The Tour of Britain bike race covered lots of AONB and coverage was streamed to over 100 different countries, so hopefully this will have a positive outcome and see an increase in visitors to the area.
Resolved: That the Committee note the AONB Partner update.
Networks 4 Nectar
Dr Sarah Robinson from the project presented the aims of the project from April 2014-October 2015 which were:
· to create 'stepping stones' of nectar rich grassland and 'mini meadows'
· to encourage planting and management of high nectar value plants
· to provide advice and guidance on management
· to involve businesses, community groups, schools and the public
The methods were as follows:
• Add species to existing grassland
• Start from bare ground
• Use seed
• Use plug plants
• Use trees and shrubs
• Provide bug houses
And the results:
• A total of 25 sites created & managed
• ‘Flagship’ sites created
• Schools project underway ‘Wildflowers into the Meadows’
• Private land, public open spaces, businesses, schools & church groups involved
• Public events
Sarah also presented case studies to the Committee from Lancaster Beekeepers and Stirk House Hotel. Wildflowers for the Meadows involved around 110 children from five schools in the Ribble Valley.
Next steps for the project are:
• Hay Time work continues on two new sites with funding from Coronation Meadows project (BIFFA)
• LEF application to grow specific species to enhance nectar patches and meadows
• Link established with Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank
• Species work continues on Bowland’s scarcest plant species
• Further funding being pursued
Cllr Ian Thompson asked as to whether Network 4 Nectar could help with the hedges as this is something that North Yorkshire County Council can no longer provide. It would need volunteers and risk assessments, but felt that negative could be turned into a positive situation here and involve this project.
Resolved: This proposal be discussed further between Cllr Thompson and Sarah and that the Committee thank her for this presentation.