As a widely occurring protected species, the presence of Great Crested Newts (GCN) is a key consideration in many planning applications in Cheshire, with mitigation and compensation governed by licensing under the Habitats Regulations (2017).
It has long been recognised that a different approach is required to enable Great Crested Newt populations to recover to ‘Favourable Conservation Status’; a term used to describe stable or expanding species’ populations. So, in 2018 Natural England began piloting a new, fundamentally different approach to licensing newts, known as the District Level Licensing scheme. This approach focusses on the recovery of GCN at a landscape scale, providing compensatory habitat away from developments.
Following our involvement with the development of this scheme, Cheshire Wildlife Trust were procured by Natural England to act as a Habitat Delivery Body here in Cheshire East. Initially, the first tranche of ponds was needed to pump-prime the scheme by getting compensation ponds in the grounds ready for developer buy-in. The scheme in Cheshire East is now beginning its third year and is funded by developer take-up.
Pivotal to our success was landowner engagement. Precisely where we focused this engagement work was informed by Natural England’s Strategic Opportunity Area (SOA) map. The SOA map is produced by Natural England and it models the predicted presence of GCN according to a number of factors, including pond density, habitat types and GCN records. Opportunity areas are split across two categories: ‘Core and ‘Fringe’. Core areas are where new and restored ponds will reinforce existing GCN populations, and ponds in the Fringe are intended to enable GCN increase their distribution into areas where ponds are currently absent or infrequent. We quickly realised that a twin-track approach of light touch marketing and boots on the ground visiting farms was the most efficient approach to identifying suitable locations for the required number of ponds.
Cheshire farmland is widely recognised as a ‘pond-scape,’ owing to the large number of existing ponds formed through former excavations for marl and later brick clay. It is estimated that there is in the region on 20,000 ponds across Cheshire. So, it was perhaps inevitable that we would receive lots of interest from landowners wanting to pursue pond restoration. There are strict rules on what makes a pond eligible for restoration under the scheme: it has to be completely unsuitable for GCN, such as being dry or almost completely dry for most of the year. However, many of the ponds we visited that fit this criteria were now under the canopies of mature trees, often contained within small woodland copses. Consequently, we deemed the restoration of such ponds in Cheshire East to be inappropriate as it would require the felling of tree cover in one of England’s least wooded counties. So our priority became the creation of new ponds, an approach we continue to pursue.
With sites identified, our attention turned to delivery on the ground. Given the geographical spread of sites, and the need to move plant large distance throughout the district, we opted to sub-contract the excavation and fencing work to local trusted contractors who work under our guidance and supervision.
Since our appointment in January 2019, we have created 146 new ponds and restored 13 former ponds throughout Cheshire East; helping provide valuable aquatic habitat for GCN and other pond wildlife. All new ponds will be surveyed for the presence of GCN for the first four years after creation to establish colonisation rates. The first year of surveying in Cheshire has established GCN colonisation of new ponds to be at 27% – a figure only likely to rise over time as more and more newts find their way into our ponds.
Learn more about this scheme from the perspective of Natural England’s District Level Licensing Project Manager, Jen Almond.
