Priority habitats
Salford has a number of Priority Habitats that have been identified for their national and/or local importance. These Priority Habitats are referred to in more detail in the Nature Conservation and Biodiversity SPD.
A Biodiversity Trigger List has also been produced to assist Planning Officers when initially considering a planning application as to whether an ecological survey should be submitted.
Areas of UK and local priority habitats do not have statutory protection but are protected by Policy EN8 (Nature Conservation Sites of Local Importance) of the Unitary Development Plan (adopted June 2006), and are shown on Maps 1 and 2 of the Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Supplementary Planning Document (adopted July 2006).
The UK Government has identified 42 national priority habitats, known as "Habitats of Principal Importance in England", in Section 74 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and in Annex C of the ODPM Circular 06/2005. These national priority habitats were identified in line with the requirements of the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora 1992 (Habitats Directive) as those habitats for which at least one of the following criteria apply:
- The UK has international obligations relating to the habitat;
- The habitat is at risk or in decline; and/or
- The habitat may be essential for helping to support species, which inhabit a wider range of habitats; and/or
- The habitat supports UK Priority Species
The UK Priority Habitats found in Salford are:
- Lowland raised bog (readily restorable);
- Lowland acid grassland;
- Lowland heathland;
- Wet woodland; and
- Eutrophic standing water.
Local Priority Habitats for Salford are identified in the Greater Manchester Biodiversity Action Plan. Although the "titles" of some of the GM BAPs, are the same as those of the national priorities (e.g. lowland dry acid grassland), there is a different definition for each, therefore the "quality" of these habitat areas are not necessarily equivalent. Individual GM action plans have been produced (2009) for the following habitats occurring in Salford:
- Lowland raised bog (degraded) / mosslands
- Lowland dry acid grassland
- Marsh / marshy grassland
- Unimproved neutral grassland
- Lowland broadleaved woodland
- Ponds and lodges
- Canals
- Urban managed greenspace
The UK BAP provides more general information on the different types of national priority habitats and species and Greater Manchester Biodiversity Project provides more information on local priority habitats and species.
Who to contact
- Name
- Planning and Transport Futures
- Address
- Sustainable Regeneration
Salford City Council
Civic Centre
Chorley Road
Swinton
Salford
M27 5BY
Map to this location - Telephone
- 0161 793 3782
- plans.consultation@salford.gov.uk
This page was last updated on 9 September 2011
