Mansfield District Council

LNR’s Habitat and Species:

Local Nature Reserves (LNR) are protected open green spaces for wildlife and local people, which are designated such by councils after guidance from English Nature (EN). As part of this guidance EN set councils a target of 1 hectare of Local Nature Reserve per 1000 population and that every person should have access to open green space within 300 metres of their home. To achieve this EN have been encouraging local authorities to use the powers available to them under section 21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

In their Community Strategy “The Big Picture” Mansfield District Council (MDC) has a headline target of creating or enhancing over 60 hectare of new wildlife habitat by 2008, and are proposing to meet this target by designating and managing a number of its own wildlife rich sites as LNR’s.

Officers of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT) had the foresight to see an opportunity to work in partnership with MDC to create more LNR and manage the sites to enhance biodiversity. The partnership of MDC and NWT successfully applied for funding from EN’s Wildspace! Scheme to create the Natural Connections Project which involves a full time post for a NWT officer who is out-posted at Mansfield civic centre.

MDC have designated six LNR with a further three in the consultation process. When these three are finally designation in mid 2005 MDC will have exceeded the targets set by English Nature. Making them one of the few councils to have achieved this target in the country, this could not have been accomplished without NWT and the hard work and commitment to this project from officers of MDC.

Local Nature Reserves.

The Hermitage	Maun Valley Park
Meden Trail	Quarry Lane Walkway
Meden Vale – The Bottoms	Oakham
Ravensdale	Oak Tree Heath
Warsop Carrs

If you require further information on any of the Local Nature Reserves please contact
Andrew Lowe - Natural Connections Officer
Civic Centre, Chesterfield Road Sth, Mansfield, NG19 7BH
Tel 01623 463324
or
Sarah Brown - Research and Development Officer
Mansfield District Council. Tel 01623 463042

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