Countryside

• Contact Us

The council's countryside team works closely with other organisations, local groups and individuals for the benefit of the environment in our district.

Together, we look after many countryside sites, co-ordinate community based wildlife projects, design landscape schemes, provide advice about wildlife and development, and protect trees and conservation areas.

We work in partnership with different organisations to improve important landscapes such as the ancient woodland complex at Blean and the wetland grazing marsh at Seasalter.

We also support events and various schemes for residents such as Wild About Gardens and Kent Free Trees

Our work reflects council strategies and contributes to the policy documents linked to the Local Development Framework for our District, including the Reculver Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).  More information about Strategies we are involved with is available here.

Countryside staff work with the council's Environment and Street Scene division for litter, grass cutting, and maintenance related enquiries. The Council's Outdoor Leisure team provide a number of services for the management of formal parks and gardens in the district, as well as play areas and skate parks.  We also work with the Community Safety Unit to tackle flytipping, vandalism and other anti-social behaviour in our open spaces.

Studies show that accessing natural outdoor spaces can be significantly beneficial to your health.  Accessible Countryside for Everyone gives details of spaces that are accessible for those with mobility issues.  Valuing our natural outdoor spaces is also very important for biodiversity and forms part of EU targets for improving biodiversity on an international scale.

Schemes

• Wild About Gardens Award Scheme
• Kent Free Tree Scheme
• Events and Volunteer Opportunities

 Places to visit and things to do

• Events
• Reculver Country Park
• Duncan Down Village Green
• Larkey Valley Wood
• Sturry Road Community Garden
• The Blean
• Whitehall Meadows and Bingley Island
• Curtis Wood
• Wraik Hill and Foxes Bottom Local Nature Reserve
• Seasalter Levels
• The Coast
• Canterbury Environment Education Centre
• Local Nature Reserves

 Landscapes

• Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (external site)
• The Blean Initiative (external site)

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (593kb) Final Draft of the Kent Downs AONB Management Plan 2009 - 14.

The Blean

The Blean is one of the largest and most distinctive areas of ancient woodland in England, covering some 3000 hectares - over 11 square miles! It is recognised through conservation designations as being nationally and even internationally important for wildlife.

The Blean has remained wooded for over a thousand years. Mostly owned by the church and its institutions until the twentieth century, it has a rich and unusually well documented history as a working woodland with coppice materials supplying many important local industries.

In recent years several conservation organisations have come to own the majority of the woodlands and now manage them for both wildlife and visitors.

Various self guided circular walks are available.

For more information on the Blean visit www.theblean.co.uk 

 Trees

Trees play a vital role in both our urban and rural environment. Not only do they provide character and beauty within our towns and villages, but they also give us oxygen, help to form rain, absorb some pollutants, reduce soil erosion, act as wind and noise barriers and support much of our wildlife.

There are special laws and regulations to protect trees. If you own trees, intend to work on a tree, or if you want to try to stop someone else felling a tree, you need to know what to do to ensure you don't fall foul of the law.

• Trees and hedges
• Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs)
• Trees in Conservation Areas
• Trees and Planning Conditions

Free trees in Kent Scheme

The Kent Free Trees Scheme offers up to 25 trees completely free of charge to individuals and organisations from the Canterbury district.

All of our trees are species native to the county. All you need to do is pick up the trees, plant them yourself and care for them as they grow.

 Landscape design

Landscape and urban design or landscape architecture is concerned with the planning, design and management of outside space. The profession is involved with protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment for the benefit of society. Landscape designers work on all types of external space - large or small, urban or rural, and with 'hard' and 'soft' materials. They design, supervise contractual implementation and specify aftercare management.

For more information on the subject visit the Landscape Institute's website: www.landscapeinstitute.org  

Three key areas of work exist at the City Council:

· Integrating new uses into the landscape in ways which create delight and minimise visual and environmental impact;
· Transforming poor quality sites into new landscapes able to support a wide range of uses and biodiversity;
· Conserving, restoring and adapting valuable historic landscapes for present-day use
Design projects are undertaken from concept to implementation and advice is given to planners, architects and engineers within the organisation as well as to parish councils and community groups.

The City Council was one of the first district councils to engage the services of a landscape architect. Over the past two decades a wide range of projects have been successfully completed. The following list shows the diverse range of work undertaken more recently:

• Whitstable Castle
• The King's Mile, Canterbury
• Sturry Road Community Garden, near Canterbury
• Memorial Park, Herne Bay
• Petham Village Hall
• Kingsmead Childrens Centre, Canterbury
• Beach Alley and William Street, Herne Bay

  ---

  
  

  Return to Countryside main page

  Contact us

  Advice

  We provide advice about the effects of development on wildlife and how best to encourage biodiversity through the planning system. There is a general requirement to consider enhancements for biodiversity regardless of impact on wildlife for any development. You may wish look at the Kent Wildlife Trust Factsheets advice or Natural England guidance web pages to find out what you can do to improve your development site for wildlife. Any such improvements are likely to be viewed favourably as part of your planning application.

  Our spreadsheet provides examples of species in different habitats, the level of protection they are afforded by law, and suitable survey times for determining presence or absence. This example of developer mitigation demonstrates how a development can proceed whilst adhering to legislation.

  For advice about habitats and species, or managing a piece of land for nature in the Canterbury District, please contact our supported partner organisations Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership or Kent Wildlife Trust. The other organisations on our list may also be helpful. Alternatively, please contact us directly.

  Write to:

  Countryside
  Planning And Regeneration

  Canterbury City Council
  Military Road
  Canterbury
  CT1 1YW

  Phone 01227 862486, 01227 862187 or emergency out of hours number 01227 781769

  E-mail countryside@canterbury.gov.uk