The Wolborough Residents’ Association is aware that the above Environmental Land Management Agreement was put in place as mitigation for the A380 South Devon Link Road. Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we wish to receive answers to the following questions and copies of the monitoring reports for the land covered by this Agreement:
1. How many occasions and on what dates have site visits been made and to what extent has monitoring of compliance with the terms of the Agreement been made? Please supply any reports to date.
Annual compliance monitoring has been carried out. Surveys of Forde Fields and Stray Park Meadows were also carried out in 2018 but we have not yet received the reports from the consultants.
Please see the reports below, site visit dates are included.
2. Has any enforcement action been taken for breaches of the terms of the Agreement? We ask this because it appears that the requirement to maintain a 6m grass field margin on arable land has been ignored. This requirement also stated that the 6m margin should exclude public rights of way and must therefore start from the edge of the right of way.
As per the details of the agreement no payment has been given for this particular margin due to cattle trampling etc. Enforcement action is not appropriate.
3. The Agreement is for a period of ten years to 30th April 2019. Are there any proposals to extend this Agreement to ensure continued mitigation land and enhancement of the habitat for Lesser Horseshoe Bats and Cirl Buntings?
No, this is not required as part of the planning permission process.
4. What proposals are there for continued protection of the habitat within Forde Fields for Great Crested Newts and Lesser Horseshoe Bats?
No planning requirements. The site is however protected to a certain extent through its designation as a County Wildlife Site. Great Crested Newts and Lesser Horseshoe Bats are protected through legislation.
5. How often since the commencement of the Agreement has the population of Cirl Buntings, Lesser Horseshoe Bats and Greater Crested Newts on the site been surveyed?
Survey of Lesser Horseshoe Bats (LHB’s) and Great Crested Newts (GCN) on the site covered by the Land Management Agreement (LMA) is not required through planning. Measures put in place through the LMA are known to benefit LHBs and it was considered that survey would not provide any useful information / not requried. There was a GCN licence from Natural England for the South Devon Link Road and monitoring has been carried out as per this licence. The SDLR permission requires monitoring of bats along the road, focusing on the culverts, and this is being undertaken as required. Measures put in place are also known to benefit cirls, however a couple of surveys were carried out to clarify whether the wild bird seed area was used by them, which it was. Survey information is provided :
6. Please supply any population reports to date.
Please see the previous response.
7. Has the County Council received any independent reports from, for example, Universities, Devon Wildlife Trust or other experts on the population of Cirl Buntings, Lesser Horseshoe Bats and Greater Crested Newts? Please supply any reports to date.
No, therefore we do not hold this information.