The railway lineside is a green corridor which runs through Britain, and is a rich habitat for biodiversity and ecology. Our operations can impact on this, especially where the railway intersects protected areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Biodiversity, ecology and land use
Our Corporate Responsibility Group have established six priority areas of focus for the coming year in terms of sustainability. One of these is biodiversity, ecology and land use, where we intend to develop a strategy to maximise the economic, social and environmental value of our land.
We will be developing long term strategies for each of the six priority areas over the coming 12 months and will report fully on our progress in our next report.
- Carbon
- Climate change adaptation
- Waste
- Diversity
- Accessibility
- Biodiversity, ecology and land use
Our Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)
In England, we own and manage 141 designated SSSIs. These areas are protected by law, as they are important to the nation’s natural heritage for their habitats, plants, animals or geology.
Our target for December 2010 was to bring 21 of these sites into favourable or recovering condition. This was in support of a Natural England Public Service Agreement target set in 2000. We came close to reaching our target thanks to an investment project of over £6m. Work was substantially completed on 20 of the 21 sites by April 2011.
We are currently in discussion with Natural England to establish the status of all sites under our management in England, and to agree site management statements for a number of them.
We have also sought agreement with Scottish Natural Heritage to identify those sites in Scotland that require similar improvement. This work is being planned for delivery during the rest of Control Period 4 (CP4: 2009-14)
We have approached the Countryside Council for Wales to identify similar sites in Wales.
Sustainable lineside project
During 2010/11, we carried out ecological surveys on nine trial sites to establish baselines for our sustainable lineside project. The aim of this project is to develop and trial low maintenance, high biodiversity planting schemes for the railway lineside.
Trials are being considered to go ahead by the end of 2011, dependent on weather. We would then monitor these sites until 2015/16, when we would report on findings. If the trials were to be successful, we would consider rolling out these solutions and management options for our lineside across our network, and revise our biodiversity action plan accordingly.
Wildlife trust partnerships
In 2010/11, we funded six local Wildlife Trusts across Britain with £2,500 each. This funding covered a number of projects including contributions towards improving nature reserves and a project to enhance biodiversity in a grassland habitat.