INTERNATIONAL COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP EXCHANGE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE 1996 UK EXCHANGE

The Fens, England

Introduction

The Fens of England’s East Anglia is a unique landscape, a flat rich, agricultural landscape below vast expanses of sky and unending horizons The Fens lie in 4 counties – Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Once very wet, the Fens have been progressively drained since Roman times, punctuated by periodic floods that remain in local people’s memories. The highly productive soils shrink when drained and can be blown away, whilst winter flood and summer drought are also threats.

Observations

The team observed the following factors in relation to the benefits of wetland creation. The team recognized that wetlands in general can offer a wide variety of economic, environmental aesthetic and recreational gains. The Fens will shortly need substantial extra water supplies to meet future demands. The Fens are also a critical habitat for biological diversity in the UK with over 75% of certain endangered or threatened species only occurring in wetlands in the Fens.

A no-action scenario in the Fens could easily lead to progressive salinisation of land and more commonplace droughts and floods. Wetland systems can act as natural water purifiers and water storage systems.

With regard to tourism, it was noted that the significance of natural attractions such as the Fens wildlife reserves were generating increasing numbers of visits.

The team saw the deep connections local people have with the area but felt they did not have a common vision for its future. The Wet Fens for the Future group needs to build on its exceptional preliminary work and reach out to all stakeholders. Clear and broader communication is needed to build wider support.

Fenlanders are very willing to work together and understand wider issues but need to be helped by structural and technical support to develop new wetland based opportunities. Current funding opportunities are not being taken full advantage of.

Key Issues

• The extent to which wetland-based land use in The Fens can provide net economic and social benefits to local communities.
• How the current ‘Wet Fens for the Future’ partners can best build links with all sectors of the local community to generate interest and involvement in new wetland creation.
• Identify potential support mechanisms that could help local people and businesses develop new opportunities based on wetland land use.

Recommendations

The team found that a “Wet Fens” program is crucially important for the region but that its present definition is too narrow to yield optimum benefits. It should be expanded to be a multiple objective management program (MOM) expanded in terms of objectives, participants and the kinds of wetlands to be created. This could include deep water reservoirs for agricultural use, reed beds for habitat creation and landscape treatment to encourage increased ‘green’ tourism.

A public education and involvement program should be designed to illustrate the benefits and opportunities of wetlands restoration. This should deliver audience-friendly, non-technical material including a newsletter, similar to that developed as part of the Parish Paths Initiative.

The ‘Wet Fens’ group should expand its membership, including representatives from the agricultural community, Internal Drainage Boards, landowners and parish councils on its Steering Committee. This could be based on successful models developed for Long Island Sound in the US and the new Parish Council based Levels and Moors Partnership in Somerset, both of which have helped to break down the ‘them-us’ barriers and develop consensus.

Developing the discussion around support mechanisms, the team recommended that a leadership group of ‘local champions’ be established, helping identify community interests coinciding with program objectives. The focus of the Wet Fens Officer in the future could be on public outreach.

Technical assistance should focus on identifying a range of possible demonstration projects and locations that illustrate the economic and social value that can be achieved through wetland creation. Early, successful projects should be vigorously promoted through the press, tours, brochures, events, open days to farmers, local businesses, tourism groups, landowners, community groups and others.

More fully explore the opportunities provided within existing funding structures such as European Structural Funds, MAFF Countryside Stewardship and Rural Development Commission grants to develop good demonstration projects.

The ‘Wet Fens’ program should take into account possible future changes to the Common Agricultural Policy, which may include integrating rural policy, food production, countryside management and rural services.

Also the team recommended that local authorities could begin to promote wetland creation by implementing it on their own sites and develop memoranda of agreement with partners from other sectors in the form of multi-objective management programs.

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©2002 Glynwood Center