100 miles wilder

The hard truth

We are facing a nature and climate emergency. Habitat loss has unintended consequences. These include soil erosion, loss of pollination services, increased risk of flooding, and pollution of water courses. Once environmental degradation begins it is difficult to reverse. At the same time, cities and urban expansion place pressure on natural resources. The Southeast of the UK for example has extremely high levels of water stress.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that global temperatures will increase by 1.5°C by 2050 and will continue to cause longterm changes to the climate, resulting in sea-level rises and increasing the risks of drought, floods, and extreme heat. This will exacerbate the current environmental and biodiversity crises, and affect our way of life.

The need for housing

Addressing the lack of affordable housing is a Government priority. Some assessments suggest that 4 million homes are required to meet our national housing need. We need new homes that cater for a range of needs. But if we do not change the way in which we plan and deliver different types of infrastructure, we will see an acceleration of species loss, with knock-on consequences for our own health, wellbeing and social and environmental sustainability.

If we continue to build in the same way, we will get the same results: increased congestion, pollution, and continued deterioration in quality of life. The economic cost of this will be felt from increased social care requirements to the impacts of flooding and a fall in agricultural productivity.

We can decide the future we want to create. We can redesign how we live and work. We can put nature first and reconnect with our wildlife. We can create communities that support healthy lifestyles. We can take advantage of innovation to create new ways of connecting and sustaining communities. By rediscovering the value of nature and enabling communities to reconnect with wildlife and each other, we can capture the full social and environmental value of this approach.

Roman era

Looking through historical records and mapping, it is evident that much of the UK’s natural woodland was lost by the end of the Roman era.

15^th century

Settlements and farmland expanded through medieval times to the 15^th century, further depleting woodland coverage. Agricultural land coverage has significantly altered the character of the UK’s landscape.

20^th century

The urban + suburban expansion of places and infrastructure designed for the car.

The way we have developed and managed our land has eroded and severed the natural environment, forcing nature to retreat into isolated pockets of landscape.

21^st century vision

A pioneering and aspirational vision to restore the natural environment and wildlife in one of the most nature depleted regions in the UK. Creating a nature recovery network that stitches nature-rich areas together with a natural green mosaic that improves connections for wildlife and health and wellbeing for people. A 21^st century solution we desperately need.

Nature's recovery network

A joined-up system of places important for wildlife. This is the ambitious network that eventually re-connects our fragmented nature.

The Connectivity Network and Recovery Zones on the map show opportunity areas where nature can most easily spread to newly created habitat. The aim is for a high proportion of land in this zone to contribute to Nature’s Recovery Network.

Outside the network must be nature friendly. All land use should include sustainable practices and features that provide habitat for wildlife.

The concept

Adopt the 4 stage process to nature recovery: protect and enhance the most valuable habitats, connect these through corridors, create buffers around the emerging network and encourage these nature reservoirs to extend into the surrounding farmland and communities.

Taking a landscape-led approach means understanding and prioritising nature’s needs first.

Nature’s Recovery Network has been overlaid with the various geographical constraints and characters, to create a network that will holistically protect, connect and provide room for nature to recover.

Ridges and valleys

The region’s geography is defined by ridges and valleys, structuring the area along corridors that run from the southwest to northeast.

Landscape character

Interspersed with remnant forests, meadows, grasslands and fens, the region comprises various national landscape character areas that have largely been influenced by human activity and retain little of their original character.

Water and flooding

Key waterways include the Thames, River Nene, River Great Ouse and River Cam. Flood mapping reveals the importance of the waterways and fenlands to the northeast of the region, which drain towards the Wash nature reserve on the east coast. Development in these areas could exacerbate flooding issues upstream, and negatively impact the water stress the region is already beginning to experience.

Most tranquil places

Tranquillity data reveals the most tranquil areas across the region, where one can appreciate dark skies at night and quiet retreat in the day.

Rethinking movement across the region

Our vision includes rethinking the way in which we plan and design movement within the corridor so it is more joined up and takes advantage of the natural landscape. This means prioritising active travel and planning development that is easily accessible to local services.

We need to change how we plan for new infrastructure, shifting the conversation away from capacity and speed, to redefine the problem we are seeking to solve in the context of social and environmental needs.

Introduction

The UK government has set a target to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050. Infrastructure investment in the OxCam Arc must pave the way by achieving the goal of Zero Carbon by 2030, well ahead of the national timeframe. An integrated, robust and consistent strategy will avoid the need and associated cost of remediating insufficient provision. The transition can be facilitated by smart, low carbon and integrated approaches to energy.

Renewable energy

Mega fact: 24% - contribution from energy supply to UK total carbon emissions (BEIS, 2017)

The falling cost of renewables and innovations in energy storage is enabling a shift towards decentralised energy generation. Local generation can also provide community benefits.

Decarbonised Transport

Mega fact: 27% - contribution from transport to UK total carbon emissions (BEIS, 2017)

The movement hierarchy needs to prioritise people through active travel and local service provisions. Communities can be supported by interconnected public and shared transport services designed to integrate with renewable energy sources.

Carbon Removal

Mega fact: 35MtCO2e per year – removal potential through investment in natural assets across the UK (Royal Academy of Engineering, 2018)

In addition to emission reduction, removal of carbon from the atmosphere is essential to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030. Natural assets such as woodlands, habitats and well-managed soils capture carbon effectively.

New Passive Homes

Mega fact: 75% - reduction in heating demand compared to current building regulations standard of 60kWh/m2/yr (The Environmental Design Pocketbook, 2015, p339) (BEIS, 2017)

The Passive House Standard is an approach to designing out heating and cooling demand. Coupled with solar energy, this can deliver Zero Carbon homes.

Building Retrofit

Mega fact: 30-80% - emission reduction potential through low-carbon retrofit or refurbishment (Retrofit & Innovate UK,2014)

Some 80% of housing stock that will be needed by 2030 already exists. Retrofitting buildings with improved insulation is essential to achieve goals.

Sustainable Agriculture

Mega fact: 80% emissions reduction potential by 2030 with major land use changes and efficiency improvements (CTI, 2019)

Agricultural and farming practices are shifting so that they can preserve and restore critical habitats, improve soil health and reduce emissions.

Planning for nature

It is essential to understand environmental capacity before planning and setting targets for development; all development in the Arc should be set within a single strategic plan informed by a strategic environmental assessment, full public consultation and independent examination.

Nature centred design

Development should be designed from the outset with nature in mind, targeted at places where it can have a positive environmental impact and contribute to a Nature Recovery Network.

Build in the right places

Building in the right places goes beyond aligning strategic land for housing with transport infrastructure, it should preserve the wildest places and avoid impacting on precious core sites and floodzones. Never build on ancient or high-value habitat. Always ensure that nature’s corridors and networks are maintained.

Restorative water management

It is vital that groundwater and aquifer restoration is prioritised in the region to ensure that water stress does not become more severe. This means increasing storage in the flood plain with natural habitats, and slowing rainfall with sustainable urban drainage and natural swales in new development areas.

Giving back to nature

New development and settlements should give back to nature and deliver a net gain for wildlife. This could include funding through a Wildlife Infrastructure Levy or habitat creation schemes to capture carbon at a strategic level.

Natural space provision

Access to nature should be a human right. New places should interweave natural landscape with housing and movement networks in a way that draws nature in and gives everyone equal access to living landscapes. We recommend at least 50% of new development is comprised of natural green space.

Right to access nature

The landscape should be considered a cultural asset. Everyone should have access to nature and leisure activities such as nature trails, walking and cycling.

Compact is key

Getting the density right is about creating places that are compact, social and walkable. Well-designed compact places integrate natural intensity with efficient urbanism, creating strong communities and enhancing wellbeing.

Nature friendly farming

The Arc contains large areas of nationally important farmland. Promote and support nature friendly agricultural practices that are better for wildlife, our health and our long-term economy. Enable people to make informed choices about local, seasonal, sustainably grown food.

Active and aligned travel

Encourage people to move sustainably by providing interconnected and easy to use travel services. Slow movement networks that link up to decarbonised public transport will help people to shift their habits and make better everyday decisions about how they move.

Yes. We have opposed the Expressway from the first time it was suggested. A concrete corridor covering huge swathes of our countryside can only ever be damaging to the environment. We brought legal proceedings against the Government’s plans for the Expressway and we are clear that should plans for an Expressway resurface, we will fight them again.

Read about our campaign against the Expressway

No. We have always been and continue to be opposed to the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway.

We strongly oppose the Government’s current approach to development across the Arc. We are not opposed to development in principle and recognise the need for housing in our area, but the Government’s proposals for the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Arc, as they are currently being planned and delivered, simply won't work. We fundamentally question whether the area can support one million homes without serious damage to the natural world. Without proper assessment, the Government cannot know how many homes the area could support and stay within environmental limits for nature, carbon and water. 

Nature’s Arc has been created by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Woodland Trust, BBOWT and the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants. It sets out key principles that the Government must follow if development across the arc is to be anything but damaging for the environment. Nature’s Arc includes three basics steps that any development must follow: (i) protect existing nature, (ii) restore nature across the Arc, and (iii) set new standards for sustainable development in the proposed Arc. If the three steps are not followed, development should not take place.

One key principle is that the proposals as a whole should be subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment and public consultation so the cumulative impacts can be understood and where necessary challenged.

Read more about the Nature's Arc principles

The Oxford to Cambridge Growth Arc is a proposal by the Government to invest in the area between Oxford and Cambridge to grow businesses, create jobs and encourage international investment. The proposals initially included plans for an expressway between Oxford and Cambridge and up to one million new homes. Due to strong campaigning against these proposals we understand the expressway and target for one million homes have been shelved. However, we remain vigilant and will campaign against them should they resurface.

We are not anti-development per se, we are pro-wildlife. This means that we are against developments that harm wildlife, and we consider that all developments should deliver benefits for wildlife. We review thousands of planning applications every year and object to those that are most damaging to wildlife.

HS2 will divide and destroy huge swathes of irreplaceable natural habitat and important protected wildlife sites up the length of England. This will cause permanent loss of nature, increased fragmentation of wild places, and could cause the local extinction of endangered species. It will also destroy precious carbon-capturing habitats if it’s allowed to continue in its current form.

If any proposed housing development threatened to destroy irreplaceable habitat or designated sites we would be strongly oppose them. Nature’s Arc sets out principles that development must follow if it is to help restore nature. One such principle is that developments should be zero carbon. If proposed development does not meet the principles of Nature’s Arc it should not take place.

As part of our science based approach we are monitoring the creation of habitats on one small development (25 homes) and whether such habitats provide benefits for wildlife in the long term. The results from the monitoring will help inform us on whether habitat creation on housing developments actually works in the long term.

We know that the UK Government and local authorities are already working on plans for the Arc. We also know that development in the arc cannot be allowed to trash our natural environment. Nature’s Arc is our attempt to show that a unified approach to the arc is needed if it is to have any hope of benefitting nature.

If a piecemeal approach is taken to development, it will be impossible to ascertain the actual impact of government proposals on the arc. This is why a Strategic Environmental Assessment must be carried out for the combined proposals within the arc so the full potential impact can be seen. The principles in Nature’s Arc should act as a constraint on development.

We hope both local authorities and the UK Government will see Nature’s Arc as principles their proposals must meet before any development can proceed. If the principles are not met, development should not go ahead. 

Restoring nature across the arc is possible if the principles of Nature’s Arc are followed, namely that (i) a nature recovery network is established, (ii) a strategic spatial plan for the whole of the arc is made public, (iii) there is a duty on local authorities to deliver a nature recovery plan, (iv) the area managed for nature is doubled, (v) environmental assessments are undertaken and (vi) all development achieves a minimum 20% biodiversity net gain.

What is also clear is that not all damage can be compensated for and biodiversity net gain achieved. Designated sites and irreplaceable habitats such as ancient woodland, fens and ancient meadows cannot be compensated for so biodiversity net gain cannot be used as a licence to destroy them.

We review thousands of planning applications every year and object to those that would cause the most damage to wildlife. We also seek to influence local plans and object to allocations made in areas where precious habitat will be adversely impacted.

As the Government’s plans for the Arc have not been brought together in a single proposal and have not been subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment, it is impossible to know what the impact on natural resources, such as water, will be. That is why we are calling on the Government to make their plans public and carry out the proper assessments so the full impact of the plans can be seen and challenged where necessary.

All proposals, including for transport, must be carbon neutral. Rail and cycle networks should be at the fore of the plans with interconnected public and shared transport services designed to integrate with renewable energy sources.

We are clear that an expressway must not form part of the transport plans for the arc.