Critical Natural Assets and Basic Natural Stock are designations based on ecological
interest and
landscape value criteria.
The assessments of ecological interest were undertaken by the Lincolnshire Trust for
Nature
Conservation under contract to Lincoln City Council to assist with the preparation of the City of
Lincoln Local Plan. They are largely based upon the survey work undertaken by Trust volunteers
during the 1980s (which was summarised in the Trust's 1991 publication Wildlife in Lincoln) which
has subsequently been updated by further information by volunteers and staff and evaluated by the
Trust.
The information on habitats and species in a Lincolnshire context has largely been
drawn from the
Lincolnshire Trust for Nature Conservation's publication "Nature in Lincolnshire; towards a
biodiversity strategy" which should be consulted for more detailed information.
The assessments of landscape value are based on surveys referred to in the City Council's
Planning Policy Document "Open Space in Lincoln" which identified 'Areas of Special Landscape
Value'. Again, those assessments have been reviewed as part of the Local Plan preparation
process.
Information on the landscape character context refers to the Character Map of the
English
Countryside published in 1996 by the Countryside Commission in partnership with English Nature
and English Heritage.
The sites have been broadly classified into two categories:
•
Critical Natural Assets
•
Local Basic Natural Stock.
The site descriptions set out in the Critical Natural Assets and Bas/'c Natural Stock
sections which
follow have the following format:
•
Ordnance Survey grid reference location and status (statutory and non-statutory e.g.
that identified by the Lincolnshire Trust for Nature Conservation)
•
Brief site description, including reasons for designation as Critical Natural Asset or
Basic Natural Stock. The reasons stated cover:
*
the main habitats on the site, including where known their area as a proportion of the
city and county area of the habitat;
*
any rare or endangered species recorded from the site. The criteria for inclusion have
been taken directly from the Lincolnshire Trust for Nature Conservation's publication Nature
in Lincolnshire : Towards a Biodiversity Strategy and include not only nationally rare or
protected species but also those whose county populations are considered to be threatened
due to presence as small or fragmented populations; evidence of serious decline or
instability; or habitat change or other causes. Species known to be uncommon within
Lincoln have also been listed;
*
other considerations which have contributed to the site's Local Plan designation. These
include value as (or as part of) a linking area or "wildlife corridor" between other sites.
•
An assessment of the landscape value of the site where relevant.
