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Tag: Natural England

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Survey – Wildlife & Nature in the Arnside Area

Sustainable Arnside invite Arnside residents to help Westmorland and Furness Council understand the needs of Arnside residents in relation to ‘Wildlife and Nature‘ locally by completing the survey below.

  • What do you think about nature and wildlife in your local area.
  • What are your favourite places?
  • How do you like to spend time in nature?
  • What birds, animals, and insects do you love to see?
  • By letting us know what is important to you, you’ll be helping to develop plans to make more space for nature in Cumbria. We’ll share your priorities and ideas with the organisations who look after local green spaces, nature reserves, and the countryside.

These questions are being asked as part of a process to develop a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) – every part of England will be producing one as they’re required by law under the Environment Act 2021. Once it’s written, everyone in Cumbria will be able to use it to make sure that work to create and manage wildlife habitat is done in a way that brings the most benefits to people and nature.

Westmorland and Furness Council are leading the work on developing the Local Nature Recovery Strategy, working closely with Cumberland Council, Natural England, Lake District National Park Authority and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, supported by Cumbria Local Nature Partnership, but want to hear what matters to you.

Whether you love watching the garden birds, enjoy an epic day exploring the fells, or are more at home rock-pooling by the sea, your views on nature are really important.

To complete the survey, click here before 31st May 2024.

Plans to build a traffic free link between Grange and Arnside are set to take a step forward.

Members of the South Lakeland locality board for Westmorland and Furness Council are set to recommend £99,999 from the local sustainable travel and transport fund goes towards the project to adapt the Arnside viaduct to enable walkers and cyclists to cross the Kent Estuary.

A report from Morecambe Bay Partnership says: “The proposed construction of a 5.5km raised boardwalk along the railway embankment and a cantilevered bridge over the viaduct creates a new leisure space that also limits the current harmful encroachment by people and dogs onto the highly sensitive saltmarsh. The enclosed trail route can play an important part in reducing bird disturbance and preventing damage to sensitive flora and fauna. These are all factors of concern locally to us and our partners Natural England and RSPB who are tackling this problem.”

“We believe the trail provides an opportunity to bring people closer to nature and educate them to care about the special environment and wildlife of the Bay.”

According to the report, feedback for the proposed scheme was ‘incredibly positive’ with 99.6% of the 6,000 respondents to the consultation supporting the proposal.

If the funding is granted, the partnership intends to progress the Arnside to Grange trail scheme to outline business case (OBC) status which is the planning phase of the project and acts as the final technical assessment stage prior to the initiation of scheme procurement.

The partnership will commission consultants to provide the technical engineering, environmental, active travel planning and place making expertise to achieve support for the scheme which provides a ‘compelling’ case for construction funding.

Members of the South Lakeland locality board for Westmorland and Furness Council are set to recommend the funding for the project on January 25 at Kendal Town Hall.