Agenda item

The Executive Member for Environment and the Director of Environment and Community Services submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to consider the approval of a new nature reserve for Middlesbrough and to designate it a new Local Wildlife Site (LWS): The Lower Ormesby Beck Nature Reserve (LOBNR).

The designation of the site supported the Council’s emerging Green Strategy in two main areas:

a)     Sustainably manage and develop green spaces - to increase and improve biodiversity by creating rich and diverse habitats.

b)     Land and Nature - to protect and restore land for the benefit of people and wildlife.

The reason for the designation was due to its rich biodiversity with habitat of urban grassland, reed bed and stream margins with 170 plant species recorded, including three species of orchid. 45 bird species had been seen/heard on-site and 13 species of butterfly had been found, including the increasingly rare Dingy Skipper butterfly (a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species). In addition, the presence of water voles in the beck corridor and two species of bats had been recorded making it a highly diverse site and qualifying it for designation as a Local Wildlife Site.

The site had been proposed as part of a wider application for a Local Wildlife Site (LWS) by the Tees Valley Nature Partnership (TVNP), which had been submitted to the Council’s planning section and was awaiting a decision.

An image, identifying the two site options, had been attached to the submitted report. The options available were as follows:

·        Option 1: Designate the whole site as a Local Wildlife Site and nature reserve to include both development Site 1 and Site 2, as proposed by the Tees Valley Nature Partnership.

·        Option 2: Designate only Site 1 as a Local Wildlife Site and retain Site 2 for commercial development, whilst retaining the beck corridor with the option to designate that separately as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR).

OPTIONS

To not approve the site in whole or in part as a nature reserve, could have potentially led to the site being used for development, which in turn could have resulted in permanent loss of a valuable habitat. In either case, the Council had a duty to protect valuable habitat and put in place appropriate measures to do so. That could be by providing mitigation, compensation or nett gain in improving habitat in another location. The Local Authority did have an obligation to show due regard to protecting biodiversity as part of its duty under the NERC Act. It could accept the proposal as submitted or modify the boundaries as was deemed fit.

There was a current proposal for an electric re-fuelling station on Site 2, which would be not only be a first for Middlesbrough but a valuable asset for the town as a whole.

Any development on either site would have to give due regard for biodiversity and provide a degree of protection for any valuable habitat, and also seek to offset any loss so that it would lead to an overall net gain in biodiversity.

ORDERED

That the designation of Lower Ormesby Beck nature reserve, as shown in Option 2 only, be agreed as a Local Wildlife Site.

REASON

It planned to provide protection to a valuable new nature reserve for the town, which would act as a vibrant and visible area of green space and richly diverse habitat, adjacent to the A66 corridor and Shepherdson way, on the approach to the Riverside stadium.

That would meet the aspirations of the Council’s Green Strategy and demonstrate that the Council took its obligations under NERC (Natural Environment and Rural Communities) Act 2006, to protecting biodiversity, seriously. Section 40 of the NERC Act placed a duty to conserve biodiversity on public authorities in England. It required local authorities and government departments to have regard to the purposes of conserving biodiversity in a manner that was consistent with the exercise of their normal functions, such as policy and decision-making. 'Conserving biodiversity' may include enhancing, restoring or protecting a population or a habitat.

There was interest in the site from local individuals and partners, such as the Environment Agency, Tees Valley Nature partnership and Thirteen Group who were all keen to see the site progress and develop as a nature reserve.