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| Local Nature Reserves (LNRs)
should be seen by local authority council members and their officers
as a useful planning tool. |
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| They: |
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increase people's awareness
and enjoyment of their natural environment |
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provide an ideal environment
for everyone to learn about and study nature |
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can help to build relationships between
local authorities, national and local nature conservation organisations,and
local people |
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protect wildlife habitats and
natural features |
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offer a positive use for land
which local authorities would prefer was left undeveloped |
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make it possible to apply
bye-laws which can help in managing and protecting the site |
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| In addition, because
Local Nature Reserve is a statutory declaration, it is a very clear signal to a
local community of the local authority's commitment to nature conservation.
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| LNRs can also help
local authorities meet Local Agenda 21, Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP)
and Sustainable Development targets. Following research, Natural England, recommended
in 1996 that LNRs ought to be provided at the level of 1 ha per thousand
population and accessible natural green space at levels ranging from 20ha to
500 ha. |
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| Natural England
recommends that people living in towns and cities should have: |
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accessible natural greenspace
less than 300m (in a straight line) from home |
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at least one accessible 20ha
site within 2km of home |
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one accessible 100ha site
within 5km of home and |
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one accessible 500ha site
within 10km of home |
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statutory Local Nature
Reserves provided at a minimum level of 1 ha per thousand population. |
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| In some areas, these levels of accessible
natural greenspace provision will be hard to achieve in the short term, but they
should nevertheless remain a long term aim. |
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| Ideally, LNRs should be
placed in a clear strategic framework for accessible natural greenspace set out
in Development Plans, other formal local authority documents or Local
Biodiversity Action Plans. They could, for example, be seen as nodes in green
networks which have a variety of uses. |
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| As LNRs support habitats and
species that are important at a local (and often national) level,
they can play an important part in Local Biodiversity Action Plans. |
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| LNRs provide a great opportunity
for people to become involved in the management of their local environment.
Such community activity can form part of the Local Agenda 21 process
and, at the same time, help implement Local Biodiversity Action Plans.
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| Natural England
believes that: |
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everyday contact with nature is
important for people's well-being and quality of life |
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everyone should be able to
enjoy this contact, in safety, without having to make any special effort or
journey to do so |
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natural greenspace in towns
and cities can play an important part in helping safeguard our national
treasure of wildlife and geological features |
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accessible natural greenspaces can
give everyone an excellent chance to learn about nature and
to help protect it in practical ways |
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