Issue - meetings

Rede Common - Local Nature Reserve Designation

 

 

Meeting: 05/09/2017 - Cabinet (Item 9)

9 Rede Common - Local Nature Reserve Designation pdf icon PDF 4 MB

Minutes:

Background:

 

This report provided details of the proposed designation of Rede Common, Strood, as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) confirming the site’s future as a wildlife and community asset. This required an agreement between Natural England and the Council (a declaration) and was subject to an agreed Management Plan, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report and the Cabinet to make a legal declaration.

 

The report stated that Rede Common, known locally as ‘Sandy Banks’, was a green space in the heart of Strood. It was a small open space and Doorstep Green, of 11 hectares, but it was a place at the heart of the local community and was the only semi-natural greenspace site serving this community.

 

The Friends of Rede Common had been active for 10 years in promoting awareness and support of both the local public and Ward Councillors for the declaration of Rede Common as a LNR. The Friends of Groups had held numerous events promoting the declaration of the LNR.

 

Decision number:

Decision:

103/2017

The Cabinet agreed the Rede Common Management Plan 2017-2021, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

104/2017

The Cabinet agreed to declare Rede Common as a Local Nature Reserve under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 to enable an agreement between the Council and Natural England to be entered into for the designation of the site as a Local Nature Reserve.

 

Reasons:

 

It has been a long standing local ambition to declare the Rede Common site as a Local Nature Reserve. Such an action responds to the site’s local importance and the Council’s and the Friends of Rede Common’s desire to maintain and enhance the site’s biodiversity and community interests. This ambition also contributes to the Council’s target of 1ha of LNR per 1000 head of population.