Green infrastructure (GI) is defined in the North West Green Infrastructure Guide (GRITT 2007) thus:
“Green infrastructure is the region’s life support system – the network of natural environmental components and green and blue spaces that lies within and between the north west’s cities, towns and villages and provides multiple social, economic and environmental benefits.”
Urban green infrastructure is a holistic way of thinking about the natural resources and ecosystem services that support our way of life in Merseyside. Biodiversity is an integral part of our urban green infrastructure, fulfilling vital roles in ecosystem services and contributing, in myriad ways, to the well-being of the people who live and work here.
Despite the importance of our urban biodiversity, the existing BAP framework is not the ideal mechanism to look after it. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution noted this failing at both national and local levels stating: “national conservation policies fail fully to recognise the special nature of urban habitats. Implementation of the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) (1994), national BAPs and the designation of SSSIs currently provide less protection to urban sites than rural ones” and “many urban BAPs fail to identify the potential for maximising biodiversity through advocating green infrastructure, ecosystem function, and integrating features onto existing buildings and new development” (RCEP 2007).
1 Current status
1.1 National
There are over 2,000 miles of canals and inland waterways in Britain. In their heyday
there were more than 5,000 miles of canal. The canals and inland waterways are in
various states of repair with approximately 60% still operational, i.e. in use by boats.
British Waterways among others is an agency charged with maintaining and
extending the canal system.
Canal habitats include open water, swamp and reedbed, grassland, hedgerows,
woodlands and built structures such as bridges, aqueducts and tunnels.
Canals were constructed mostly during the late 18th century and 19th century and
began to fall into disrepair in the early 20th century. In urban areas, disused canals
have been in-filled and have often been built over. However, many canals have been
actively used for recreation including, boats, angling, walking, and cycling.
1.2 Local
There are two canals in North Merseyside, the Leeds-Liverpool Canal and the St
Helens Canal (also known as the Sankey Navigation). These two canals are very
different in terms of their construction, current uses and habitats and species.
Although man-made these two water features are highly significant in North
Merseyside.
The St Helens Canal was the first true canal in England; it was the first designed to
carry industrial cargoes. It opened in stages, the first stage opened in 1757, and it
eventually linked the Mersey Estuary with Blackbrook, Sutton, St Helens and
Ravenhead. By the mid-1800s, sections of the canal in St Helens began to fall into
disuse. The last commercial traffic was in 1959, when a cargo of sugar was carried to
the Sankey Sugar Works at Earlestown. The canal was officially abandoned by Act of
Parliament in 1963.
The canal was neglected and several sections in filled with waste materials and
domestic refuse between 1963 and the mid-1970s. Halton, Warrington and St Helens
undertook various improvements on those sections of canal still in water between the
late 1970s and 1980s, which greatly improved the appearance and amenity value of
the canal. However, a large proportion of the canal had been in filled and several large
obstacles had been constructed across the line of the canal preventing navigation from
being re-established.
The Leeds-Liverpool Canal was constructed later than the St Helens Canal. It passes
through the districts of Liverpool, Knowsley and Sefton. The canal is in-water along
its entire length from Stanley Dock, Liverpool, where access to the river Mersey can
be gained, to Leeds. The length from Stanley Dock, Liverpool to Maghull has nonoperational
status although still under British Waterways’ management.
Both canals are significant recreational and nature conservation resource and are
valuable wildlife corridor for species such as Water Vole, bats particularly
Daubenton’s Bats, Kingfisher and dragonflies.
1 Current status
1.1 National
Approximately 7% (1.5 million hectares) of Great Britain is covered by conifer
woodland. Ownership is evenly split between Forest Enterprise and the private sector.
Stands are usually single species with some 40% being Sitka Spruce. However mixed
plantations are common at the forest scale and older thinned stands often develop an
under storey of native trees and shrubs particularly at the edges or in glades. Apart
from areas of Caledonian Scots pine forest all conifer woodland in Britain is of
plantation origin, commonly comprising introduced North American conifers such as
spruce, fir and hemlock.
During the 20th Century many coniferous woods have been planted on areas which
had significant biodiversity value as other habitats or ancient semi-natural woodland.
The latter are known as PAWS (plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites). In these
instances restoration to the former habitat is the preferred option.
Many plantation forests are reaching harvestable age. This provides opportunities to
restructure the habitat leading to wildlife diversification. Examples being the creation
and extension of rides and glades and other habitats.
Although mature conifer plantations support fewer birds and mammals than broadleaved
woodlands they do support priority species such as Goshawk, Crossbill, and
Red Squirrel. Others such as Nightjar and Woodlark are associated with the
regenerative phases of conifer woodland development.
1.2 Local
In North West England extensive conifer forests are present in the uplands of north
Cumbria, the Lake District and the Forest of Bowland. Large blocks have been
planted in the lowlands of Cheshire at Delamere, on the mosslands in Lancashire and
Greater Manchester and on the Sefton Coast between Ainsdale and Formby.
The 1979/82 Woodland Census figure for Merseyside as a whole recorded 313ha of
coniferous high forest (currently being updated as part of FC National Woodland
Inventory) the majority being Corsican and Scots pine plantation on the Sefton Coast.
In 2007, an update of the 1996/7 survey of the Sefton Coast woodlands recorded
235ha of pure pine, 35ha of predominantly conifer mixed woodland and 20ha of
predominantly broadleaf mixed woodland.
Conifer plantations form part of the large estates including the Earl of Derby’s estate
in Knowsley. There are numerous conifer and mixed shelterbelts and coverts in the
open mossland landscapes north of the A580. These mossland woods are dominated
by pine species. Pine birch mixtures are typical of former acid peatland landscapes
prior to drainage and agricultural development.
The coastal pine woodlands are an important refuge for one of England’s remaining
populations of Red Squirrel.
Field Boundaries contain a large proportion of the biodiversity in arable landscapes.
For the purposes of this plan, the term ‘field boundaries’ refers to boundary structures
such as hedgerows, hedgebanks, drains and ditches. It also includes field margins and
buffer strips, lying between the crop and the field boundary, along with infield
structures such as beetle banks and conservation headlands.
Hedgerows are an intrinsic part of the farmed landscape and provide shelter and food
for many species of farmland birds, insects and mammals and also provide important
corridors for wildlife movement across the farmed landscape.
The particular mix of shrub and tree species in a hedgerow, which reflects both the
age of the hedgerow and local management customs, contributes to local landscape
character distinctiveness.
Buffer strips have a wide range of potential benefits, such as creating new habitat for
small mammals, invertebrates and birds; protecting habitats from sprays, fertiliser and
cultivation, protecting archaeological or historic features from damage by mechanical
operations; stabilising banks, protecting water courses and reducing diffuse pollution.
Ditches can also provide beneficial wildlife habitat through the provision of
undisturbed varied bank side and aquatic vegetation.
Beetle banks are tussocky grass ridges, generally about 2m wide that run from one
side of a field to the other whilst still allowing the field to be farmed. They provide
habitat for ground nesting birds, small mammals and insects. If carefully placed
across slopes they can also help reduce run-off and erosion.
Conservation headlands are areas of cereal crops where careful use of sprays allows
broadleaved weeds and their associated insects to develop. This provides feeding
habitat for farmland birds and rare arable plant communities also benefit.
1 Current status
1.1 National
Lowland acid grassland is usually found on nutrient-poor, generally free-draining
soils that have pH ranging from 4 to 5.5 and overlying acid rock or sands and gravels.
Lowland acid grassland is defined as both enclosed and unenclosed acid grassland
below 300metres. It can often be found as an integral part of lowland heath
landscapes, parklands and locally on coastal cliffs and shingle. It is normally managed
as pasture.
The NVC communities usually present include U1 Sheep’s Fescue-Common Bent-
Sheep’s sorrel; U2 Wavy Hair-grass; U3 Bristle Bent; U4 Sheep’s Fescue-Common
Bent-Heath Bedstraw. Characteristic plants include Heath Bedstraw; Sheep’s Fescue;
Common Bent; Sheep’s Sorrel; Sand Sedge; Wavy Hair-grass; Bristle Bent and
Tormentil.
Acid grasslands can have a high cover of bryophytes and parched acid grassland can
be rich in lichens. These grasslands are very variable in terms of species-richness and
can be relatively species-poor. Parched acid grasslands contain a significant number
of rare and scarce plants, many of which are annual. These include Mossy Stonecrop
and Smooth Rupturewort.
The birds of lowland acid grassland are similar to those of other lowland dry
grasslands and include Woodlark, Nightjar and Lapwing. Many invertebrates are
specialist species only found in lowland acid grasslands, particularly ground-dwelling
and burrowing species such as solitary bees and wasps.
Acid grassland has undergone a decline in the 20th century although there are no
figures available on rates of loss. The decline is mostly due to agricultural
intensification. Those areas of acid grassland remote from the uplands are of primary
conservation focus and are of restricted occurrence. It is estimated that there are less
than 30,000ha remaining in the UK.
1.2 Local
Lowland acid grassland is found on soils overlying sandstone rock, peats and sands in
North Merseyside, including ex-industrial sites.
About 100ha of acid grassland is present in North Merseyside, of which 88ha are
found on the Sefton Coast, where it occurs on the more inland areas where leaching
has reduced calcium and nutrient levels; 80% of this is on golf courses. No
significant recent losses are known. Since 2000 3ha have been created in St. Helens
and a further 3ha restored from scrub at Freshfield Dune Heath. The habitat is found
in all four districts, sometimes in association with heathland. Some of the best
examples can be found in St Helens, at Billinge Beacon, and in Sefton, on road verges
in Ainsdale and in the Rimrose Valley.
Where acid grassland is managed it tends to be used as pasture or is cut by machine
for a variety of purposes, e.g. road verges.
1 Current status
1.1 National
Lowland heath is characterised by dwarf shrubs, such as heather and dwarf gorses. It
usually occurs below 300 metres. Habitats such as acid grassland, scrub and woodland
form part of heathland but dwarf shrubs such as heather dominate.
Lowland heath is a priority for nature conservation because it is a rare and threatened
habitat. The UK has some 94,000ha of lowland heath of which 58,000ha is found in
England. Only one sixth of the heathland present in England in 1800 now remains.
The UK has an important proportion (about 20%) of the international total of this habitat.
1.2 Local
The total area of lowland heath in 2000 was 27.3ha, about 1ha of which has since
been lost to development. This represents only a tiny fraction of the UK resource (and
of the NW England total of 1397ha) but the 22.7ha of dune heath in North Merseyside
may be as much as 25% of the national total for this sub-type.
According to the most recent NVC survey of the coast (2004), 9.3ha of dune heath
occurs on Freshfield Dune Heath, Woodvale Airfield and Willow Bank Caravan Park
(mostly on Freshfield Dune Heath); 10.1ha occurs on Formby Golf Course; scattered
areas amounting to 2.2ha occur on Ainsdale Golf Course; and 1ha occurs on the
National Trust property at Larkhill. All of these areas are within the Sefton Coast
SSSI.
Lowland heath can be found in each district, on sandstone outcrops in Liverpool,
Knowsley and St Helens, on derelict land with acid soils in Liverpool and St Helens,
and on former mosslands in Knowsley and St Helens.
1 Current status
1.1 National
Typically, lowland mixed broadleaf woodland is associated with a wide range of
fertile, moist loams and clays. Lowland mixed broadleaf woodland overlaps with
several other woodland types. Mixed broadleaf woodland has a maximum of 10%
conifers in the tree canopy.
On moderately base-poor soils oak and birch predominate in the canopy, with ash,
wych elm and alder present in damper or nutrient-rich areas. On more calcareous
soils, ash predominates with locally frequent wych elm and small-leaved lime.
The UK has an estimated 130,000 – 160,000 ha of ancient semi-natural mixed
broadleaf woodland.
There are five main types of lowland mixed broadleaf woodland as identified by the
National Vegetation Classification. In brief, these are: W8 and W9 Ash woodlands;
W10 and W11 Oak woodlands; W13 Yew woodlands.
1.2 Local
There are no estimates of the total area, status and condition of lowland mixed
broadleaf woodland according to NVC communities. However, areas of woodland
prior to The Mersey Forest commencement give the following area of broadleaf
woodland: Knowsley 573ha; Liverpool 166ha; St Helens 283ha; Sefton 294ha.
From the 1993 Mersey Forest survey, mixed broadleaf woodland is the most common
type in North Merseyside (broadleaf 604 ha; mixed woodland (conifer and broadleaf)
454 ha; conifer 166 ha.) The Sefton Coast Woodland and Scrub Strategy identified
227 ha of conifer woodland.
North Merseyside has at least twelve ancient semi-natural woodlands, although this
figure does need confirmation. Most of the above can be classed as W8-W11
woodlands. Liverpool 3 sites; Knowsley 1 site; St Helens 7 sites; Sefton 1 site.
W10 type woodland is likely to be the most common woodland type. There are no
examples of yew woodlands (W13) in North Merseyside.
1 Current status
1.1 National
In the UK lowland raised bogs are a particular feature of cool, rather humid regions
such as the north-west lowlands of England, the central and north-east lowlands of
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but remnants also occur in some southern and
eastern localities, for example Somerset, South Yorkshire and Fenland.
In its pristine form, the habitat is ombrogenous, i.e. fed only by rainwater. Sphagnum
mosses are the principal peat-forming species on natural UK lowland raised peat
bogs, and their dominance in the living vegetation layer gives a bog its ‘spongy’
surface.
Peat accumulation preserves a unique and irreplaceable record of plant and animal
remains and some atmospheric deposits from which it is possible to assess historical
patterns of vegetation, climate change and human land use.
There has been a dramatic decline in the area of lowland raised bog since around the
turn of the nineteenth century, from an original c. 95,000 ha to c. 6,000 ha at present.
England’s resource has reduced from 37,500 ha to 500 ha, a loss of 98.6%.
1.2 Local
The lowland raised bogs of the Mersey Basin continue across Merseyside, West
Lancashire and western Greater Manchester with an estimated 10,728 ha in the mid
nineteenth century. By the middle of the twentieth century approximately 2,804 ha
remained, most of which had been significantly modified. By the start of the 21st
century all of Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester only has 499.6 ha of
relic mossland habitat still supporting semi-natural Bog vegetation.
Only two actively growing bogs still survive in North Merseyside with abundant peat
forming Sphagnum moss, Acornfield Plantation, Kirkby, and Sutton & Bold Mosses
(Colliers Moss), St Helens, covering an area of less than 5.1 ha.
In addition, some 16ha of drained but relatively unmodified areas of habitat survive at
King’s Moss, part of the once extensive Holiday Moss
Other small patches of degraded bogs remain, mostly in agricultural use, although
many have been used for peat extraction and used as landfill sites. However of these
peatlands, 66 ha of mossland with semi-natural bog vegetation (M25, Molinia
caerulea-Potentilla erecta mire and W4, Betula pubescens-Molinia caerulea
woodland) still occur in the area.
1 Current status
1.1 National
Lowland wood pastures and parklands are the products of historic land management
systems, and represent a vegetation structure rather than a typical plant community.
Their structure normally consists of large open grown high forest trees or pollards in a
mix of grassland or other habitats.
Wood pastures and parklands were widespread in lowland England through the
medieval age until the early 19th Century, when many were lost through enclosure.
This decline has continued into the 20th Century. Although regionally important
examples are scattered throughout the country (such as Dunham Park in Cheshire)
there are no reliable statistics on the extent of the resource. The best estimate is of 10-
20,000ha given in the UK Biodiversity Steering group report.
Sites are frequently of historic, cultural and landscape importance and are outstanding
not just nationally but at a European level. This is a Priority Habitat in the UK
Biodiversity Action Plan.
In NVC terms the habitat is most closely associated with W10 & W16 Oak woodland
& W14 & W15 Beech woodlands although other action plan priority habitats may be
present as part of the overall structure.
Four broad types of site with varying origin are included in the UK HAP as follows:
- Those derived from medieval forests and emparkments, wooded commons and
parks and pastures containing trees.
- Parklands originating in the 19th Century but containing a vestige of older
trees from a former landscape.
- Neglected and unmanaged wood pasture with veteran trees in a matrix of
secondary woodland, or scrub.
- Parkland or wood pasture that has been converted to other land uses but where
surviving veteran trees are of nature conservation interest.
This habitat is important for a number of priority species including invertebrates such
as saproxylic beetles, rare lichens and fungi. Trees also provide roost sites and
foraging areas for bats and hole-nesting birds. The principal tree species found are
Pedunculate Oak, Beech, Ash, Wych Elm, Sweet Chestnut and Lime. Dead wood
both standing and fallen is an essential component of this habitat.
1.2 Local
There are no estimates of the total area, status or condition of wood pasture and
parkland habitats in North Merseyside, and the majority of sites are likely to fall into
the final three classification categories of the UK HAP.
Examples of this habitat type under varying regimes of management from neglected
through to intensive include Halsnead Park and Knowsley Park in Knowsley, Ince
Blundell and Meols Hall in Sefton, Croxteth and Calderstones Parks, Sefton Park,
Speke Hall Liverpool and Bold Heath and Sherdley Park in St Helens. Calderstones
Park contains an important example of a veteran tree, The Allerton Oak.
1 Current status
1.1 National
Ponds were originally included in the NM BAP as a ‘local’ habitat, but the 2007
national priority list review added Ponds as a full UK BAP priority habitat.
UK BAP Priority Habitat ponds are defined as permanent and seasonal standing water
bodies up to 2ha in extent which meet one or more of the following criteria:
Habitats of high conservation importance. Ponds that meet criteria under
Annex 1 of the Habitats Directive.
- Ponds supporting Red Data Book species, BAP species, species fully protected
under the Wildlife and Countryside Act Schedule 5 and 8, Habitats Directive
Annex II species, one Nationally Scarce wetland plant species, or three
Nationally Scarce aquatic invertebrate species.
- Ponds supporting exceptional populations or numbers of key species. Based
on (i) criteria specified in guidelines for the selection of biological SSSIs
(currently amphibians and dragonflies only), and (ii) exceptionally rich sites
for plants or invertebrates (i.e. supporting 30 wetland plant species or 50
aquatic macroinvertebrate species).
- Ponds of high ecological quality: Ponds classified in the top PSYM1 category
(“high”) for ecological quality (i.e. having a PSYM score 75)
- Other important ponds: Individual ponds or groups of ponds with a limited
geographic distribution recognised as important because of their age, rarity of
type or landscape context e.g. pingos, duneslack ponds, machair ponds.
With respect to this local HAP, all ponds are covered, regardless of the above criteria.
However it is useful to identify the high status ponds in the area to help prioritise
action. Ponds and other standing open waters are usually classified according to their
nutrient status. There are three main types: nutrient-poor (oligotrophic); nutrient-rich
(eutrophic) and intermediate (mesotrophic). Gradations between these main types
occur.
Identifying ponds from habitat inventories can be problematic because they are often
dealt with under broader categories e,g. in Phase 1 they are usually recorded as G1
Standing Water (along with other types of water body) and in the NVC they can be
recorded variously as aquatic, swamp & fen communities, OV28-OV35 and others.
1 PSYM is the Predictive SYstem for Multimetrics model used to get an ecological quality assessment
of a pond.
1.2 Local
From work by the NM BAP manager, based OS data in 2007, there are estimated to
be 2069 ponds in North Merseyside, which break down by area as follows:
- St Helens 876 ponds.
- Sefton 501 ponds.
- Knowsley 456 ponds.
- Liverpool 236 ponds.
In general most ponds and standing open waters in North Merseyside are small and
tend toward being nutrient-rich. Many ponds were made for agricultural use. Some
are several hundred years old and are of considerable antiquity in parts of Knowsley
and St Helens, also potentially in Liverpool and Sefton. Ponds were also created for
industrial use or as a consequence of mining.
