Gardiner V., Matthews H. The changing geography of the United Kingdom
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land cover and landscape are ‘to protect the countryside for its landscape and habitats of
environmental value while maintaining the efficient supply of good quality food and
other products’.
Data on these two families of indicators, contained in the Indicators of Sustainable
Development report, have been used in constructing the following sections of this chapter.
Preservation and conservation
To treat landscape preservation and wildlife conservation as separate themes would be to
deny their interrelatedness and co-dependency. It would also run counter to both the spirit
and purpose of recent government initiatives—including the institutional changes described
earlier—designed to preserve the environmental estate of the United Kingdom. A more
sensible and realistic approach is to identify some core themes that are relevant to both
landscape preservation and wildlife conservation, whilst recognising that some themes are
more appropriate to one than the other.
Competition and conflict
A critical tension underlies and challenges all debates about how to manage the natural
resources of the United Kingdom in a sustainable manner. It stems from the obvious fact
that the land resources are required to meet a range of different objectives at the same time,
not all of which are compatible. Hence ‘a key sustainable development issue is to balance
the protection of the countryside’s landscape and habitats of value for wildlife with the
maintenance of an efficient supply of good quality food and other products’ (UK government
1994a).
Landscape and habitats are often created or altered incidentally, as the end result of
other resource-use decisions. This makes it very difficult to ensure that the nation’s
environmental capital is not progressively eroded, without careful monitoring and control.
That, in turn, creates many challenges for the agencies responsible for environmental
protection.
Strategies
The traditional approach, certainly in post-war Britain, has been to use a combination
of tools in the quest for an optimum land-use strategy, which would derive the largest
possible benefits from its environmental estate consistent with preserving the ‘natural
capital’ on which it is based. This toolkit includes making special efforts to prevent loss
of specific landscapes features such as hedges and ponds, using planning legislation to
control unsuitable development in natural and semi-natural areas, and designating and
protecting particular landscapes and habitats which have regional, national or
international importance. It also includes working in partnership with landowners and
managers, environmental organisations and groups, and the general public in order to
inform, advise and empower them to play their part in looking after the nation’s
environmental assets.
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Changes in land cover
Results from the 1990 Countryside Survey show some interesting patterns of change in
land cover, many of which have direct or indirect consequences for landscape and habitats.
Land cover in Great Britain remains dominated by arable land, improved grassland and
heath/moorland. But there were net reductions in area under each cover type between 1978
and 1990—the area of arable land fell by 4 per cent, and area under improved grassland fell
by 2 per cent—mainly because of urban development and new woodland. Crop patterns
changed within the arable area between 1978 and 1990, with large increases in the area
used to grow wheat and oilseed rape, a large increase in non-cropped arable land set aside
from productive use, and a corresponding decrease in the area used to grow barley. These
changes have in turn promoted changes in patterns and levels of use of fertilisers and
pesticides, which also benefit wildlife.
Most of the changes in land cover between 1978 and 1990 were concentrated in
lowland landscapes. In the lowlands arable was lost mostly to woodland, urban and semi-
natural land cover types which were partly offset by the conversion of some improved
grasslands to arable. Improved grassland was lost to arable, woodland, urban and semi-
natural cover types. In upland landscapes the area of ‘other semi-natural land’ cover types
fell by 3 per cent, whereas in lowland landscapes it rose by 10 per cent (largely because of
increases in non-agriculturally improved grass, unmanaged tall grassland, and felled
woodland).
Other cover changes between 1984 and 1990 include a major decline in well-managed
grassland and corresponding expansion of weedy grassland (offering more habitat diversity
for wildlife), and further decrease in the small surviving area of heath and moorland in
lowland landscapes (mainly replaced by woodland).
Farmers are traditionally seen as custodians of the landscape, and not surprisingly
their decisions can have significant impacts on landscape and habitats. Many of the
adverse changes in UK landscapes in recent decades are the direct result of the post-
war drive for increased food production that promoted more intensive farming. This
is true particularly in lowland landscapes, where there have been major losses of
features such as hedgerows and walls and semi-natural habitats such as ancient
meadows, heaths and wetlands. But there are a growing number of environmentally
friendly farmers and environmentally friendly farming practices playing significant
roles in maintaining valued landscapes and habitats. Increased environmental
awareness, coupled with reform of the Common Agriculture Policy in 1992, has
reduced some of the incentives to intensify food production and this is encouraging
the improved management of rural land (Bignal and McCracken 1996). Results from
the 1990s Countryside Survey confirm the importance of urban development and new
woodland as drivers of land cover change. Changing agricultural landscapes are
discussed further in Chapter 5.
Arable set-aside
Nature conservation has benefited a great deal from European Union measures designed to
reduce agricultural output, particularly of crops (Baldock 1994). The EC Set Aside Scheme
was first introduced in 1988, and the 1992 reform of the Common Agriculture Policy
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introduced further measures and incentives. Since the early 1990s the UK government
has introduced a range of measures intended to encourage the environmental
management of set-aside land, which have proved beneficial to both agricultural land
management and rural landscapes and habitats. One such measure was the voluntary
set-aside scheme that was introduced in 1988 and replaced in 1992 by the Arable Area
Payments Scheme (AAPS). Under the scheme participating farmers must set aside at
least 15 per cent of their arable area each year, on a rotation basis. Most arable farmers
have joined the scheme, which gives them financial incentives not to plough up
permanent pasture for arable crops. But the AAPS scheme is proactive, because it
includes compulsory rules designed to maximise the environmental benefits of set-
aside land. Farmers are also offered free advice on how best to manage their set-aside
land to benefit wildlife.
In 1995, there were some 6,400 square kilometres of arable land set aside in Great
Britain, much of it concentrated in eastern England. The net effect has been to reduce the
total area under crops significantly, helping to produce the desired decrease in food output
and increase in habitats more attractive to wildlife.
Habitat fragmentation
Wholesale changes in land cover, particularly those involving complete replacement of one
cover type with another (as happens with urban development), obviously cause major changes
in the visual appearance and ecological value of an area. But problems are also created by
fragmentation rather than wholesale removal, because smaller habitats suffer from
proportionately larger boundary effects (so there is less homogeneous habitat within the
unit) and dispersed habitats reduce seed sources for plants and make it difficult for animals
to move around freely.
Unfortunately there is little nationwide data on the pace and pattern of habitat
fragmentation through time. One of the few examples for which data exist (environmental
indicator r6 in Table 20.4) is the fragmentation of calcareous grassland on chalk in
Dorset. Between 1966 and 1983 this chalk grassland habitat was increasingly fragmented
into more and smaller units, as the margins of surviving areas were progressively
converted to other cover types. Fragmentation appears to have continued into the 1990s,
putting at risk the survival of the existing remnants and further decreasing their ecological
usefulness.
Grassland changes
Grassland of various types covers extensive areas of Britain, and in many areas the grassland
is being converted or altered in ways which are harmful to wildlife. Many types of grassland
within the broad habitat group ‘semi-natural grassland’, for example, are of particular
importance to nature conservation yet they are scattered throughout the country in relatively
small areas, and have been subject to a range of pressures.
A good example is calcareous grassland that grows on soils derived from chalk and
limestone. According to the 1990 Countryside Survey it now covers less than 500 square
kilometres (0.2 per cent of the total land area of Britain). Historical records show that the
area of chalk grassland in Dorset shrank from about 1,170 square kilometres in 1793 to
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about 130 in 1815 (as corn growing replaced sheep grazing), and by the early 1990s it
was down to about 30. The pattern has been repeated in most parts of Britain, so that by
the late 1990s few large areas of chalk grassland remained other than Salisbury Plain and
Porton Down in Wiltshire. Much (60 per cent) of the chalk grassland lost between 1966
and 1984 was ploughed, and most of the rest (32 per cent) was invaded by scrub after
grazing ceased.
Attempts are being made to preserve surviving remnants of such ecologically important
habitats under the two major farmland conservation schemes (Environmentally Sensitive
Areas and Countryside Stewardship, see p. 454). About a third of the remaining calcareous
grassland on chalk is located within Sites of Special Scientific Interest, where it is protected
by appropriate management.
Another type of grassland that has been subjected to change and disturbance is semi-
improved grassland, which owes its origin and character to many generations of farming
use mainly as pasture. Semi-natural grassland is part of this semi-improved grassland
category. In 1990 lowland semi-improved grassland covered an estimated 13 per cent of the
total area of Great Britain, and it supported a wide variety of plant and animal species.
Environmental indicator r3 (Table 20.4) describes changes in plant diversity in semi-improved
grassland.
Results from the Countryside Surveys show a statistically significant reduction
between 1978 and 1990 in plant diversity in semi-improved grasslands, reflecting more
intensive management. This applies both in ‘arable’ landscapes (where the mean number
of species per plot fell from 19.4 to 17.4) and ‘pastural’ landscapes (where it fell from
21.5 to 16.6). Declines were fastest among plants associated with unimproved meadows,
including some rare grassland species. Traditional land management (which does not
use fertilisers and herbicides) seems most appropriate for these cover types, and seems
the most promising way of preserving the diversity of wildlife for which it provides a
habitat.
Preservation of specific features
Many landscape features, particularly in the lowlands, have been radically altered during
the twentieth century either deliberately or through neglect. Hedgerows, stone walls and
ponds and lakes are the most obvious. They are attractive landscape features that add variety
to the appearance of an area, and have helped create the traditional patchwork-quilt mosaic
of many parts of the countryside. But their importance extends beyond the visual, because
each offers important habitats for wildlife. Linear features such as hedges and stone walls
also provide important environmental services as wind-breaks and shelter belts which act
as barriers against soil erosion. Many hedges and stone walls (and to a lesser extent farm
ponds) are also of historical importance. Streams and streamsides also offer important habitats
to wildlife and they can be important components of the visual landscape.
Hedgerows and stone walls
One hallmark of twentieth-century landscape change in the United Kingdom has been radical
change if not wholesale removal of hedges in the countryside. Modern farm machinery is
used most efficiently on large fields, so there has been relentless pressure to uproot traditional
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hedge field boundaries to create larger working units. Between 1984 and 1990 hedgerow
lengths in Great Britain decreased by an estimated 150,000 kilometres (25,000 per year).
Nearly 87 per cent of the losses (130,000 kilometres in total, 22,000 per year) were in
England and Wales and the rest (20,000 kilometres in total, 3,000 per year) were in
Scotland. Between 1990 and 1993, the net rate of loss of hedgerows in England and
Wales slowed to around 18,000 kilometres per year. Stone walls, another feature in the
traditional farming landscape in many areas, have also been cleared to increase field sizes
and improve farm efficiency. Between 1984 and 1990 the length of stone walls in Great
Britain decreased by 21,000 kilometres from an estimated 214,000 to 193,000 (a rate of
around 3,000 per year).
In the past, deliberate hedge clearance has been the major problem, but many surviving
hedges are now suffering from neglect through lack of maintenance and conversion to other
types of field boundary (particularly fences). Regular hedge management is costly and time
consuming, and it contributes little if anything to the farm economy in the short term. In a
climate of financial constraints within agriculture, hedge management can be suspended
while more pressing problems are tackled. Natural regrowth within the neglected hedge can
quickly turn it into a line of bushes or trees. Between 1984 and 1990 about a third (36 per
cent) of the hedge loss in Britain was due to uprooting, about a quarter (23 per cent) due to
management neglect, and the rest (41 per cent) due to conversion.
Some of the wholesale loss and decline of traditional hedgerows is now being offset by
the restoration of degraded hedges and planting of new ones. Creation and proper management
of hedgerows and stone walls is being promoted under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme
and regulated under Section 97 of the Environment Act 1996. Results from a 1993 survey for
England and Wales indicate that more hedges are being planted than uprooted— the rate of
new planting exceeded the rate of removal by around 800 kilometres per year between 1990
and 1993. New hedges take many years to become fully established, but in the medium to
long term they will increase the diversity of habitats for wildlife within the countryside.
But it is not just the quantity of linear features such as hedges and stone walls that
matters to conservation, their quality is also vitally important. Field boundaries provide
important habitats for birds, mammals and plants that are often rare locally, so they serve as
reservoirs of biodiversity. They also provide seed banks of locally native plants, which
under suitable conditions might allow natural regeneration of species-rich habitats in the
future. Environmental indicator r5 (Table 20.4) records the changes in mean species numbers
in linear plots recorded as hedgerows in 1978, based on 202 hedge plots sampled in 1978
and reliably relocated and recorded in the 1990 Countryside Survey. The 188 hedges that
remained in 1990 supported high species diversity, although the number of species for
hedge plots in ‘pastural’ landscapes fell significantly between 1978 and 1990. This was true
particularly of plants associated with meadow and chalk grasslands, reflecting a move towards
more intensively managed vegetation. There was no significant change in the species diversity
of hedges in lowland ‘arable’ landscapes, although the survey shows a change towards
plants more characteristic of arable fields.
Ponds and lakes
Lakes and ponds (water bodies generally smaller than about 2,000 square metres in area)
are characteristic features of the landscape in many part of the United Kingdom, even though
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many of the smaller ones were artificially created. They provide important wildlife habitats,
offering opportunities for aquatic species in what are essentially terrestrial landscapes. Many
species of plants and animals live in the water or at the water’s edge, or use them during
their life cycle. In the past ponds were common on farms because they provided water for
livestock, but many have been drained or filled in because they serve no practical purpose to
modern farming.
Environmental indicator r7 (Table 20.4) provides estimates of the numbers of lakes
and ponds in Great Britain between 1945 and 1990. Although the two surveys are not directly
comparable, the results suggest a 30 per cent decrease in the number of static inland water
bodies from about 470,000 in 1945 to about 330,000 in 1990. A survey by the Institute of
Terrestrial Ecology estimates that between 4 and 9 per cent of water bodies disappeared
between 1984 and 1990 (partly following the 1990 drought). The same survey suggests a 6
per cent fall in the number of ponds, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the water
bodies recorded in 1990.
As with hedgerows, this trend of decline has been ongoing since at least the mid-
1940s, reflecting changing farming practices and more intensive land-uses. But the decline
might be slowed down or even halted if a number of initiatives taken since the late 1980s
prove to be successful. The two most important of these are changes in the Common
Agriculture Policy (away from continued intensification of production) and the introduction
of more environmental land management schemes (see p. 454).
Streams and stream-sides
There are more than 250,000 kilometres of rivers and streams in England and Wales, and
both the waterways and their banks provide important habitats for wildlife and add variety
to landscape. Whilst some rivers have been studied intensively, until recently nationwide
evidence about river habitats has been patchy. The Environment Agency has established a
River Habitat Survey (RHS) to provide a national inventory, based on 500 randomly selected
lengths of river throughout England and Wales. Initial results indicate that only about 9 per
cent of the river lengths are unmodified.
Water quality is regularly measured at a large number of sites by the Environment
Agency to determine the scale and pattern of water pollution across the country (see Chapter
18.2). Biological indicators are another useful way of evaluating environmental quality,
and the presence or absence of otters offers a good indication of freshwater quality. A survey
of the distribution of otters in Great Britain was made in 1993, and it shows that otters are
returning to many river systems (including the Severn, Avon and Teme) as water quality
improves. The Environment Agency is encouraging this natural process of ecological recovery
by taking steps to protect existing populations and facilitating the recolonisation of new
stretches of river.
Like hedgerows, lakes and ponds, stream banks provide habitats for many plant and
animal species and they offer important reservoirs of biodiversity. Stream banks are often
affected by river management schemes (such as straightening and dredging), so the quality
of bank habitats is not necessarily a reflection of water quality within the river.
The 1990 Countryside Survey provides useful information on changes in plant diversity
in stream-sides (environmental indicator r8 in Table 20.4) between 1978 and 1990, based
on 322 sample plots in four landscape types. Stream-side plant diversity (Table 20.5) is
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generally higher in upland landscapes,
and it declined for all four landscape
types between 1978 and 1990. The
decline was statistically significant in
‘pastural’ and ‘true upland’ landscapes.
Species typical of wet meadows and
moist woodlands appear to have
declined more than most other stream-
side species. Some of the decline might
be caused by the 1990 drought, but that
would not explain why losses also
occurred in upland streams (which were
not affected by the drought) and why most of the species that disappeared were long-lived
perennials.
Non-statutory protected land
The adoption of more environmentally friendly practices by farmers and encouragement to
preserve particular features such as hedges, ponds and lakes, and stream-sides are extremely
important to wildlife conservation and landscape preservation in the United Kingdom. But
they must be seen as part of a broad approach to the problem of sustainable development
(Adams et al. 1994). Another key ingredient in this multi-faceted approach is to designate
particular areas of land for specific protection. Within them natural resources can be more
effectively managed, specifically to preserve and enhance habitats and landscape, and
potentially damaging cover changes or development can be properly handled. Within the
TABLE 20.5 Changes in plant diversity in streamsides,
Great Britain, 1978–90
TABLE 20.6 Protected areas in the United Kingdom as at 31 March 1995
Notes: *Some areas may be included in more than one category.
†Great Britain only.
‡Northern Ireland only.
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UK these protected areas fall into two groups—those which form the statutory system (set
up and controlled under legislation), and non-statutory areas.
The non-statutory areas are usually owned by the agency which establishes them,
they are carefully managed, and public access (sometimes under controlled conditions) is
generally encouraged (Box et al. 1994). Typical of such areas are the estates and land
owned and managed by the National Trust in England and Wales, which cover a total area
of around 2,390 square kilometres. Many have historical connections, most attract large
numbers of visitors, and the National Trust invests a great deal of resources in managing
and restoring habitats (Hearn 1994). Another important group of non-statutory areas are
the seventy-six nature reserves (total area 487.83 square kilometres) managed by the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and the 1,870 smaller reserves (total
area 360 square kilometres) owned or managed by the Royal Society for Nature
Conservation. In addition there are also the 4,000 square kilometres or so of woodlands
managed by Forest Enterprise (formerly the Forestry Commission) in England and Wales,
of which 40 per cent (1,600 square kilometres) are Forest Parks. Public access is allowed
(on foot) to all of the forest and woodland areas.
There are two other important categories of non-statutory protected areas in the UK
(Table 20.6) —thirteen Biosphere Reserves (covering a total of 440 square kilometres) and
eighteen Biogenetic reserves (covering a total of 80 square kilometres). These are part of an
international programme of nature conservation and sustainable development. Each reserve
is designed to protect unique areas and their wildlife, but they are also used for research,
monitoring, training and demonstration of best conservation practice (Price 1996).
Protected areas and statutory protected land
Large areas of rural land in the United Kingdom are protected because of their special
interest, their importance as landscape or their value as wildlife habitat. Most are protected
under national or international legislation, hence they are described as statutory. As outlined
below, a range of designations has been introduced which offer different levels and types of
protection. Some designations are designed primarily to protect landscape, while others are
designed primarily to protect habitats (Idle 1995). Inevitably both types of designation
benefit both landscape and wildlife, although tensions are often created in setting objectives
and priorities within each.
It is sometimes wrongly assumed that designated areas are given unlimited protection,
but in a crowded country like the UK there is usually pressure to allow appropriate types of
activity to take place within the designated areas. ‘Appropriate’ in this sense does not simply
mean non-damaging or environmentally friendly, because in some cases—such as the
National Parks—maintenance of the character of a landscape is conditional upon continued
economic activity. Clearly much tighter controls on development are appropriate in some
designations, such as nature reserves. Throughout the system of designated areas within the
United Kingdom, however, difficult decisions are required which balance the need to protect
environment against the need for optimal use of available resources. This tension lies at the
very heart of sustainable development.
All sites designated for landscape preservation or wildlife conservation are defined
and delimited on the basis of the best available appropriate scientific information. Periodic
reviews are undertaken to evaluate whether designations, site boundaries and management
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strategies need to be revised in the light of new information (e.g. about habitat condition or
species diversity), changing circumstances, and changing objectives (including the need to
comply with international agreements). Consequently the inventory of designated sites is
never static.
Environmentally managed land
One part of the government’s proactive approach to sustainable development of the
countryside has been the introduction of a range of environmental management schemes,
some designed to encourage more extensive farming methods. The two most important of
these are the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) scheme and the Countryside
Stewardship scheme. Both are voluntary schemes that offer landowners financial incentives
to manage their land in more environmentally friendly ways. The objective is to conserve
and where possible recreate valued landscapes and wildlife habitats, to offset some of the
more environmentally damaging aspects of modern intensive farming. Particular attention
is paid within both schemes to promoting better management of landscape features such as
hedgerows and traditional stone walls.
The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) scheme was introduced in 1987 with the
objective of protecting particular areas of England whose environments are regarded as
nationally important, and whose conservation depends on adopting, maintaining or extending
particular farming practices (Perkins 1996). ESAs are designated on the recommendations
of the relevant conservation bodies (such as English Nature). Under the scheme landowners
(including farmers) receive annual payments under voluntary ten-year management
agreements to implement particular agricultural practices such as the traditional management
of hay meadows. The area under ESAs (Table 20.7) trebled between 1991 and 1994 from
1,140 to 3,460 square kilometres.
The ESA scheme is complemented in England by the Countryside Stewardship scheme,
which was introduced in 1991 to promote the conservation of landscape types outside ESAs.
Between 1991 and 1994 the area of land covered by the Countryside Stewardship scheme
(Table 20.7) more than trebled from 280 to 910 square kilometres. In October 1995 the
government announced its intention (in the Rural White Paper) to increase funding for the
Countryside Stewardship scheme. This would allow the scope of the scheme to be broadened
to include (amongst other things) grant support for management of traditional stone walls
and banks, and for conserving the remaining unimproved areas of old meadow and pastures
on neutral and acid soils throughout lowland England.
TABLE 20.7 Environmentally managed land in England, 1991–4
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By 1994, some 4,400 square kilometres of land in England—around 4 per cent of the
total agricultural land area—was covered by management agreements under the ESA and
Countryside Stewardship Schemes (Table 20.7).
Landscape designations
The most important designations for preserving landscape are National Parks, Areas of
Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and National
Scenic Areas (NSA) in Scotland (Table 20.8) (Figure 20.1).
National Parks
There are ten National Parks in England and Wales, established under the 1949 National
Parks and Access to the Countryside Act (Curtis 1991). Each serves both conservation
and recreational functions, and each contains a mixture of land cover and includes
settlements, extractive industries and farming. Nearly a quarter of the Northern Region
lies within National Parks (Table 20.8), whereas the South East and East Anglia have
none although the Broads of East Anglia have a separate status equivalent to that of a
National Park, and the New Forest in Hampshire has special protection in law. The ten
TABLE 20.8 Designated areas in the United Kingdom, by region, at December 1995
Notes: Some areas may be in more than one category, and areas are estimated.
*Figures shown may differ from those previously published due to redefinition or remeasurement of
some National Parks and AONBs.
†National Scenic Areas in Scotland.