Environment
Louth's environment rests on its geological and geographical setting. The medieval town was founded on the edge of the Cretaceous Chalk of the Lincolnshire Wolds and looks out across the Lincolnshire Marsh, where glacial and marine deposits lead us towards the North Sea. The land has been inhabited for a much greater period. Palaeolithic tools have been found just west of Louth that pre-date the last Ice Age; Bronze Age and Iron Age barrows adorn the tops of the Wolds and ancient trackways can be traced by the pattern of modern roads. The Romans left their faint mark in the salt-workings at the coast, and bumps in the ground are testament to abandoned Medieval villages.
Louth grew and thrived over the past millennium as a market town serving the hinterland of hills and plain with rich agricultural land and access to small sea ports. The town’s predominantly 18th and 19th century buildings follow the medieval street plan, the site determined by fresh springs and the River Ludd. This small river has had an influence beyond its apparent size. Fed by chalk streams in the Wolds and funnelled through the dramatic glacial meltwater channel now forming the public parkland of Hubbard’s Hills, the Ludd has provided water power for milling and the early textile industry and, in the 18th century, formed the basis for the Louth Navigation, a canal crossing the Marsh to the sea.
Louth’s future environment looks set to witness changes in the coming centuries more profound than any for several millennia past. Global warming and ice melt will result in sea level rise, flooding the Marsh as it did 8000 years ago but then continuing up and inland. Louth’s venerable church spire may already have seen the greater part of its time.
Environment News
Impacts of climate change on disadvantaged UK coastal communities
A report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
How disadvantaged coastal communities are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Coastal areas of the UK may be severely affected by climate change in the future. Some are already experiencing extreme storms or floods and the effects of sea level rise and coastal erosion. Climate change will pose risks and challenges for people, coastal economies and local industry. It may also affect access to, and quality of, basic goods and services.
This study explores the vulnerability to climate change of communities in disadvantaged coastal areas of the UK;
combines four case studies with a literature review and analysis of likely impacts, interviews and a workshop; and
provides recommendations for improving their resilience to climate change as part of national and local adaptation responses.
Key Points:
Coastal areas are vulnerable to climate change because of rising sea levels and wave heights and accelerated coastal erosion – especially communities relying on the immediate coastal area for their residence, communications and economic and social activities.
Many are also vulnerable to climate change because of socio-economic issues such as high proportions of older residents and transient populations, low employment levels and high seasonality of work, physical isolation and poor transport links.
There was a lack of understanding in disadvantaged coastal communities of the range of possible climate change impacts they face and how to respond appropriately. They were more concerned about pressing day-to-day issues such as their income or employment. Residents who had experienced severe events (storms, flooding) had greater awareness of climate change.
Actions needed for coastal communities to adapt to climate change include:
improved communication of risks and impacts;
- more adaptive local and national institutions;
ensuring that new development and infrastructure planning takes climate change into account to avoid putting more people at risk;
- increasing capacity to prepare for climate risks and recover from specific events;
- developing better targeted support for those most vulnerable.
The new localism agenda puts an onus on communities and local areas to lead on tackling issues affecting them. But the study found that disadvantaged coastal communities and their local authorities may not be well equipped to do so without considerable support, including funding, from central government.
The report is available for free download from Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Warning of ‘global suicide,’ Ban Ki-moon calls for revolution to ensure sustainable development
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for “revolutionary action” to achieve sustainable development, warning that the past century’s heedless consumption of resources is “a global suicide pact” with time running out to ensure an economic model for survival.
“Let me highlight the one resource that is scarcest of all: Time,” he told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in a session devoted to redefining sustainable development. “We are running out of time. Time to tackle climate change. Time to ensure sustainable, climate-resilient green growth. Time to generate a clean energy revolution.”
Read the rest of the report here. Ban Ki-moon is thinking globally, we need to act locally.
Match-making an empty home into your home
Fed up of seeing homes that are empty, and wonder what is being done about them? Worry no more, a new initiative set up between Boston Borough Council, City of Lincoln Council, East Lindsey District Council, North Kesteven District Council, South Holland District Council and West Lindsey District Council will enable people to find out more.
With the National week of action for empty homes being launched on November 22, 2010, by the charity ‘Empty Homes’, The Lincolnshire Empty Homes project is getting the message out to residents about what they can do to support the initiatives.
Predominantly concerned with privately owned homes that have been stood empty for 6 months or more, the project will enable people living in the Districts to enquire further about homes that are empty in their area.
A lot of properties are empty for legitimate reasons, and the Council appreciate that renovations and sales take time. The Empty Homes Project will not focus on all empty properties; however they will look at what can be done about problematic properties, and where the owner has no intention of returning a property to use. It will also offer support to owners who want to do something with their property and may need pointing in the right direction.
If a resident wishes to buy or sell a property they can now access a match-making service which will help the purchaser and owner/seller meet and discuss options that will mean the property will no longer be stood empty, creating a eye-sore for passersby.
If you are interested in finding out more about the service simply visit www.lincsemptyhomes.org.uk
James Gilbert - ELDC Communications Officer November 18, 2010
Trees East Lindsey
People living in East Lindsey are being given the opportunity to comment on a special document by East Lindsey District Council that focuses on how protected trees and hedgerows and those on the Council’s land are managed and maintained.
The new document (Trees East Lindsey Part 1 (PDF, 1408KB) and Trees East Lindsey Part 2 (PDF, 1092KB)), brings together existing policy, guidance and good practice in tree management.
Environmental Policy Officer, David Pocklington, explained: “As well as being an important document for Council officers who deal with tree maintenance, Trees East Lindsey is a useful resource for anyone who would like to understand what sort of tree work is being carried out, the circumstances when it is necessary and why.”
People can submit their views on the document, which will then be used to shape future versions to Trees@e-lindsey.gov.uk or by writing to Neighbourhoods, Street Scene, Tedder Hall, Manby Park, Manby, Louth, Lincs LN11 8UP.
The Marine and Coastal Access Act: one year on
Today (Friday 12 November 2010), on the first anniversary of the passing of the long-campaigned for Marine and Coastal Access Act, the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reflects on progress and looks to the future.
A rich diversity of wildlife lives off Lincolnshire’s 50 miles of sandy coast. But this wildlife and the habitats of the seabed have woefully little protection.
After years of campaigning, the Marine and Coastal Access Act offered hope for the future for more than 40,000 species that live in the UK’s seas. It brought in legislation and a commitment from Government to create an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas.
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Chief Executive, Paul Learoyd, said: "The passing of the Act on 12 November 2009 was just the beginning; our job is to ensure the network is established with wildlife at the heart, protecting not only the rare and threatened but a range of marine species and habitats."
One year on… what has the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust achieved?
In January 2010, we launched our vision for Living Seas outlining The Wildlife Trusts’ recommendations for how the Act should be implemented to secure a healthy future for marine wildlife.
Throughout the year, we have worked closely with Net Gain (the project that will establish protected areas in the North Sea) and other stakeholders including fishermen and industry to achieve effective implementation.
We have taken families and school children sea dipping and searching for mermaid’s purses and other wildlife at Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve, and taken our 3-d Living Seas display to events such as the Lincolnshire Show, ensuring people know about the wildlife that lives hidden from view beneath the waves.
In August, we celebrated the designation as a “Special Area of Conservation” of 350 square miles of Lincolnshire seabed at the entrance to The Wash known as Inner Dowsing, North Ridge and Race Banks. This is a welcome first step but we still have a long way to go to establish an ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas.
The network of Marine Protected Areas needs to protect a full range of marine habitats and species, and should be in place by 2012. It is vital for life in our seas as well as for everyone who works, lives near or enjoys our coasts and seas on holiday.
Today, The Wildlife Trusts are calling on Government to make a statement demonstrating it is still committed to establishing a network of Marine Protected Areas.
