Interlinkages

To protect, enhance and manage the rich diversity; enhance and conserve the environmental quality; manage prudently the natural resources; and involve people, through changes to lifestyle and at work, are all regional objectives. Addressing the agreed regional priorities to conserve and enhance the natural environment and to create sustainable and healthy communities are both key to achieving these.

The quality of the environment impacts significantly on the quality of people’s lives – it affects people’s health, fear of crime and the ability of the local economy to compete, for example by attracting inward investment. Human activity also impacts significantly upon the quality of the environment, for example the way in which people travel, the amount of waste produced and the impact of the built environment on non-renewable energy use.

Sustainable development in the region requires that economic, social and environmental strategies are aligned to reduce the extent to which there are negative feedbacks between the policy areas.  The IRS framework provides, in part, the opportunity for linkages between policy areas to be addressed.

National Policy Context

The UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy was launched on 7th March 2003 - 'Securing the future - Delivering UK Sustainable Development Strategy'.  The priority on natural resource protection and environmental enhancement is of particular importance to our regional environmental policy The issues we face are the need for:

• better understanding of environmental limits,
• environmental enhancement where the environment is most degraded
• ensuring a decent environment for everyone, and
• a more integrated policy framework to deliver this. 

The Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) Public Service Agreements (2008 – 2011) are entitled:

• Secure a healthy natural environment for today and the future
• Lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change

The Natural Environment PSA will be measured against the following indicators:

• Water – improving water quality as measured by parameters assessed by parameters assessed by Environment Agency river water quality monitoring programmes.  
• Biodiversity – as measured by data on bird populations in England as a proxy for the health of wider biodiversity.  
• Air quality – improving air quality by meeting the Air Quality Strategy targets for eight air pollutants. 
• Marine – clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas as indicated by proxy measurements of fish stocks, sea pollution and plankton status. 
• Land management – the positive and negative impacts of agricultural land management to the natural environment. 

Defra’s England Biodiversity Strategy “Working with the grain of nature” ( -  Biodiversity Strategy) sets out an approach to conserving biodiversity in England.  This comprises a combination of:

• The best wildlife sites
• Promoting the recovery of declining species and habitats
• Embedding biodiversity in all sectors of policy and decision-making
• Enthusing people and
• Developing the evidence base

A full report on the progress made entitled  “Working with the grain of nature – taking it forward: Volume 1” was published in November 2007. 

The Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food: Facing the Future draws on the recommendations made by the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food. The objective is to achieve a sustainable, modern, diverse and adaptable farming industry, working in partnership with the rest of the food chain and contributing to Defra’s objectives for the nvironment and rural areas.

The vision of the Environment Agency’s Water Resources Strategy for England and Wales (3.4MB PDF) for the next 25 years is the abstraction of water that is environmentally and economically sustainable, providing the right amount of water for people, agriculture, commerce and industry, and an improved water related environment.

The Environment Agency is the competent authority with the responsibility for implementation of the EC Water Framework Directive, which came into force on 22 December 2000.  This Directive requires all inland and coastal waters to reach “good ecological status” by 2015.  It is doing this by establishing a river basin structure within which demanding environmental objectives will be set, including ecological targets for surface waters. 

The Government has also produced a statement “The Historic Environment: A Force for Our Future”. This sets out the contribution that the historic environment makes to the quality of life in the region, the environmental economy, regeneration and as an important set of assets worthy of protection and enhancement in their own right.
 
The most comprehensive statement of Government policy on all aspects of forestry is the “Strategy for England’s Trees, Woods and Forests” launched in June 2007, replacing the 1998 strategy.  The strategy sets out the Government’s vision for England’s tree and woodland resource, in both rural and urban areas, over the next fifty years.  Priorities are to make sure that trees and woodlands play their part in meeting Government goals for natural resources, climate change, improved urban environments and a better quality of life for all. 

The following Planning Policy Statements are of particular importance in terms of environmental policy: 

Planning Policy Statement 7 (PPS7): Sustainable Development in Rural Areas advises on the  adoption of positive policies for sustainable development to revitalise and support towns and villages and for strong, diverse, economic activity in rural areas whilst maintaining a high quality environment.

Planning Policy Statement 9 (PPS9): Biodiversity and Geological Conservation recognises that the planning system has a significant part to play in meeting the Government’s international commitments and domestic policies for habitats, species and ecosystems. 

Planning Policy Statement 23 (PPS23): Planning and Pollution Control is intended to complement the new pollution control framework under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 and the PPC Regulations 2000. 

Planning Policy Statement 25 (PPS25): Development and Flood Risk sets out Government policy on development and flood risk.  Its aims are to ensure that flood risk is taken into account at all stages in the planning process to avoid inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding, and to direct development away from areas of highest risk.  Where new development is, exceptionally, necessary in such areas, policy aims to make it safe, without increasing flood risk elsewhere, and, where possible, reducing flood risk overall. 

Key Challenges in the East Midlands

There is great variation in biodiversity across the East Midlands. In the extreme west and east the Peak District National Park, the Lincolnshire Coast and The Wash are outstanding at a European level because of the diversity of special wildlife habitats present. In the rest of the region, however, biodiversity has declined faster than almost anywhere else in Britain. A key challenge, therefore, is to halt and reverse the decline in the region’s biodiversity.

With the exception of Derbyshire, less than 2% of the land area of the region is notified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, compared to the national average of 7%. In Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire, 70% of scarce plant species have become extinct since 1970.
 
The parts of the region characterised by long river corridors with low lying flood plains and coastline are particularly vulnerable to flooding and therefore potentially affected by climate change. A key challenge is, therefore, to take a sustainable approach to flood management of our region’s coastline and river corridor floodplains in ways which maintain and enhance their environmental assets.

Ensuring that environmental infrastructure is integrated into the built environment is a key challenge for the region. In order to ensure truly sustainable communities with high quality built environments are being created in our region for future generations, consideration of the environment needs to be integrated into all development.  Safeguarding and promoting environmental characteristics that  contribute to local distinctiveness, including the historic environment, is also an important challenge.

Environmental infrastructure is the overall framework that provides for the sustainable use of environmental resources (including minerals and water), waste management, sustainable travel, sustainable design and construction and a high quality built environment. It also provides the Green Infrastructure - the network of protected sites, assets and ecologically functional landscapes and linkages, e.g. river corridors and flood plains, migration routes, and features of the landscape which are of major importance for wild fauna, flora and landscapes. The aim is to provide an integrated infrastructure for multi functional uses - i.e., wildlife, sport and active recreation, cycling and walking, leisure and cultural experience, delivering environmental services such as flood protection and local climate amelioration - that operates at all spatial scales from the urban neighbourhood to the open countryside.
 
The East Midlands Green Infrastructure Scoping Study was commissioned to investigate the underlying causes of the current under-investment in Green Infrastructure in the region, outside Northamptonshire.  The study identified a number of drivers for change, recommending actions for organisations in the region to collectively overcome impediments to improve the delivery of Environmental Infrastructure.  It also provide an in depth study of six representative sites around the region, intended to raise awareness and encourage others to undertake their own work. 

Further work has resulted in the “Green Infrastructure for the East Midlands – A Public Benefit Mapping Project” at the regional level.  It sets out a methodology for the prioritisation of GI investment at the regional level in terms of where GI delivery will bring about the greatest multiple public benefits (in terms of economy, social and the environment). 

The East Midlands Green Infrastructure Network (EMGIN) is being developed to provide a platform for the sharing of expert6ise between GI practitioners working around the region. 

Further key environmental challenges in the region are to continue to improve the quality of the region’s water resources and to bring its consumption into balance with its natural supply and also to achieve a competitive and sustainable agricultural industry which protects and enhances the environment.

The East Midlands has nationally and internationally important environmental heritage, but there remain significant challenges in the establishment or improvement of information networks for monitoring and reporting on the environmental sector.

Current Position on Regional Policy

The Regional Environment Strategy aims to integrate consideration of the environment into all decision making, in order to enhance and reduce the impact of our activities on the environment. This has been organised around five key components:

1. Managing and conserving the wealth of historical, archaeological, geological, geomorphological, biodiversity and landscape assets of the distinctive sub regions and local areas, fostering a sense of place and making people more aware of their environment, with appropriate access provision and getting people to use less environmentally damaging travel methods.
2. Enhancing biodiversity and the character and quality of the region’s variety of landscape types and characteristics in line with regional priorities. 
3. Minimising greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the environment whilst adapting to the challenges and taking up the opportunities that climate change will bring us, reducing our contribution to air pollutant emissions and encouraging the reduced environmental impact of energy use. 
4. Ensuring the prudent use of resources, such as minerals and aggregates, woodland and forestry, soils and land, minimising waste and reducing adverse impacts on the environment. 
5. Continuing improvements in the efficiency and quality of increasingly scarce water resources, whilst increasing the use of sustainable drainage and respecting natural processes wherever possible in floodplains and along the coast.

Putting Wildlife Back on the Map – The East Midlands Biodiversity Strategy (630KB PDF) has been developed by the East Midlands Biodiversity Forum as a key component of the Regional Environment Strategy within the IRS to provide a strategic framework for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in the region. As such it is fully endorsed by the Regional Assembly.  An Action Plan is being developed.  
 
Space4Trees, the East Midlands Forestry Framework was prepared by a partnership of regional bodies supported by the Forestry Commission.  Space4trees establishes clear policy links within the IRS and seeks to add value by helping to deliver key objectives in areas such as economic development, public health, spatial development and regeneration, nature conservation, tourism and culture. It seeks to deal only with those issues and actions relating to trees and woodlands that are best addressed at a regional level.  The Guiding Principles within Space4trees have been endorsed by the Policy Board as the Regional Forestry Framework for the East Midlands.
 
The Regional Spatial Strategy includes the priority to protect and where possible enhance the quality of the environment in urban and rural areas so as to make them safe and attractive places to live and work.  It also includes a policy on the delivery of green infrastructure.  

Links to the relevant sections of the State of the Region Report for 2008

• Diversity of Environment
• Environmental Quality
• Natural Resources
• Involving People
• Housing

   

Links to the relevant sections of the East Midlands Integrated Toolkit (EMIT)

• Built Environment
• Natural Environment
• Natural Resources
• Lifestyles

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