alistair burn - natural england's view

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Habitats Directive: Air Quality and Ecological Impact Assessment Natural England’s View Alastair Burn CIEEM/IAQM Workshop, July 2015

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Page 1: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

 Habitats Directive: Air Quality and Ecological Impact Assessment

Natural England’s View

Alastair BurnCIEEM/IAQM Workshop, July 2015

Page 2: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

Air pollution risk to England’s Natura 2000 sites

SACs

Source: UK CL Focal Centre, 2015

• 96% SACs and 91% SSSIs in England exceed critical loads

• Biodiversity 2020 - air pollution as threat to biodiversity.

• UK Biodiversity Indicators – Indicator B5a: ecological impacts of air pollution

• Habitats Directive reporting – air pollution category - threat & pressure

Page 3: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

Regulation of sources

Main sources of nitrogen deposition are NOx from combustion (traffic/industry) and NH3 (mostly from agriculture); although the relative importance will depend on location

Regulatory decisions need to be made in the context of: •wide range of impacts/ sources •high background levels of nitrogen deposition•air quality impacts not reflected in assessment of site condition•uncertainties in risk assessment

Page 4: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

Uncertainties in air quality risk assessment

Page 5: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

Natural England’s actions to improve our ability to address air pollution impacts

To support regulatory decision-making and to reduce some of the uncertainties we are :

1. Improving our approach to assessing site condition

2. Developing tools to tackle unregulated sources

3. Developing an holistic approach to deal with the range of impacts at a site (Site Nitrogen Action Plans)

Page 6: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

1. Improving assessment of site condition

• Joint work with JNCC, NRW, SNH & NIEA.

• To develop a Decision Framework that provides a means of attributing nitrogen deposition as a contributory factor to unfavourable condition on protected sites.

• The framework incorporates both national/research information and site based information, including:• the N deposition at the site and a measure of its certainty • how the deposition relates to the critical load range for that habitat and a

measure of certainty around that critical load range• site-based evidence of N impact.

Page 7: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

2. Tackling unregulated sources

Through the Rural Development Programme for England:

•Countryside Stewardship Scheme –incentives include capital grants for woodland (buffer) creation, slurry store covers, reduced fertiliser input

•Countryside Productivity Scheme –grants towards eg innovative equipment for slurry management, managing ammonia emissions

•Nitrogen-use-efficiency Integrated Project – advice and incentive for investment in equipment and innovative technology to reduce N losses

Page 8: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

© Natural England/ Peter Roworth

3. Dealing with a range of impacts: Site Nitrogen Action Plans

Page 9: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View

Environmental Impact Assessment

• Important to recognise the potential impacts on ecosystems• Consider the full range of sources associated with a development• Check the habitat type and notified features• Use best available information in assessments and relevant

benchmarks: – Air Pollution Information System (www.apis.ac.uk)

Page 10: Alistair Burn  - Natural England's View