Proposed temporary fencing on the Malvern Hills

MALVERN HILLS (CL 12, CL 14 AND CL 16) APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO ERECT TEMPORARY FENCING UNDER SECTION 194 LAW OF PROPERTY ACT 1925

INTRODUCTION

The Malvern Hills Conservators are making an application to DEFRA to use temporary fencing on the Malvern Hills to facilitate grazing. It is proposed to graze twenty cattle on the northern hills and a commoner will graze sheep on the central hills. The application is asking for permission for the Conservators to carry out fencing in the interests of managing the hills, otherwise scrub and trees would continue to spread.    Please read the submission below.
If you wish to make representation either for or against the scheme please write to Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Zone 1/05 Temple Quay House, Temple Quay House,2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6EB. Submissions need to be received by 19 December 2002.

SUMMARY

The Malvern Hills Conservators propose to erect temporary enclosures, using electric 3 and 4 strand wire fencing, to facilitate the re-introduction of grazing on the Malvern Hills. Temporary fencing will enable the stock to be moved between areas and, due to the relatively low grazing pressure, to target areas for grazing where scrub has recently been managed, to prevent its re-growth. Therefore not all the common land will be subject to the proposal for temporary fencing:

In each common land unit there will be approximately :

CL 9 = 10 hectares,
CL 12 = 22 hectares,
CL 14 = 45 hectares,
CL 16 = 54 hectares.
(at any one time there will only be around 5 hectares in each unit)

The enclosures will range in size between 2 and 10 hectares, as they are dependant upon topography and the presence of public rights of way. Well-used permissive rights of way have also been deliberately avoided to prevent hindrance to public access. The average size of enclosure will be 4.5 hectares. It is proposed that the enclosures will be very temporary and 3 or 4 strand electric fencing. The enclosures will closely follow the areas of scrub that have been cleared to prevent re-growth and to ensure sufficient grazing density to improve the grassland condition.

Although the Malvern Hills are made up of several common land units they are one landscape unit requiring similar management. In effect they are one management unit and the proposals outlined below reflect this in that the proposals for each common land unit are similar. However, it is envisaged that stock will remain on their own common land unit, rather than being moved between them.

The Malvern Hills Conservators have already been discussing the issue of grazing on the Hills for several years, particularly since the production of the Management Plan in 1999, with relevant bodies, organisations and the general public. A great deal of public relations has already been undertaken to prepare the public for the re-introduction of grazing and on the southern Malvern Hills have demonstrated that it can be successful.

THE PROPOSAL

The Malvern Hills are a nationally important landscape feature and wildlife site being part of the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The cultural heritage is also of significant value as the hills contain several Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAM), although the proposal will only affect the Shire Ditch SAM. It has been agreed by all relevant organisations that the landscape, ecological, and cultural assets of the Malvern Hills are threatened by the encroachment of scrub caused by a lack of grazing. The name Malvern derives from the Welsh "Moel Bryn" meaning bare hill, suggesting that the Malvern Hills have been affected by agricultural grazing for many hundreds of years.

The wildlife on the hills has evolved with the grazing pressures that have affected it over the millennia, however that is now being lost, or under the threat of loss, due to lack of grazing. A survey in 1994 (The Malvern Hills SSSI: Feasibility study for the re-introduction of grazing. Davies, 1994, MSc University College London) and an incomplete survey of 2002 (Draft Report, Countryside Consultants) identified that a relatively small proportion of the valued acid grassland habitat remains. In 2000 an English Nature condition assessment identified the habitat of the hills as being unfavourable/declining.

There is an urgent need to address the current situation with respect to scrub encroachment. Scrub needs to be cut down by hand and machine to reverse the unfavourable condition of the SSSI, the SAMs and the landscape. After cutting scrub, follow-up grazing is essential to ensure no new re-growth is successful. Grazing recently cleared areas is unprofitable and difficult, as stock tend to wander back to better grassland.

The Malvern Hills Conservators Management Plan of 1999 identifies the lack of grazing as the single most important issue that needs addressing to conserve the biodiversity, landscape and cultural heritage of the Malvern Hills. The first three management objectives, which are either of high or very high priority, are:

  1. To encourage holders of common rights and licence holders to graze sheep or other appropriate stock on the hills and commons for vegetation and landscape management purposes.

  2. To cut back and limit the spread of deciduous shrubs to the limits of closed canopy scrub and woodland in 1990 and to maintain the cut areas through grazing.

  3. To reduce the area covered by bracken and gorse and to maintain the cut areas through grazing.

The Management Plan also states:

"Pursue measures and increase awareness to facilitate increased grazing."

"Develop an articulated policy on stock management which considers the use of devices such as temporary fencing and permanent fences, cattle grids, traffic calming measures….."

The Management Plan proposals were endorsed by:

The Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management Plan 1996 includes a number of statements which support the principle of grazing.

MH.1 To identify, protect and, where appropriate, enhance those landscape features which contribute to the unique character and quality of the AONB, including the open character of the main ridge of the Hills…

MH.2 To carry out, and support others to carry out, management measures and practices designed to enhance landscape character…

MH.4 To support measures which increase the public awareness and appreciation of the AONB landscape, its unique characteristics, its national value and its vulnerability.

MH.10 To promote management practices that perpetuate ecological value or improve the ecological potential of sites, particular emphasis to be placed upon the management of grasslands and commons…

MH.12 To monitor and control the spread of alien or aggressive species detrimental to the environmental well-being and value of the AONB. Particular emphasis should be placed on controlling the spread of bracken and restoring a close-grazed sward on the Hills. To give priority to viability and value, in cultural and aesthetic, as well as ecological terms, of returning grazing stock to the Hills.

Management Options

  1. Abandonment
    Despite the seemingly eternal nature of the grass-topped Malvern Hills it is a totally man-made and maintained landscape. Without management the Hills will become tree covered, probably quite rapidly, with saplings already evident within 50 metres of Worcestershire Beacon (the highest pint on the Hills). On the lower hills and in CL14 particularly tree and scrub encroachment has occurred right up to the ridge - which is only kept clear of growth by the number of walkers using it. The open landscape would disappear along with the wildlife and with it the ability to wander at will on foot and horseback - a principle of the Conservators set out in their first Act of Parliament in 1884. Fire risk would increase as flammable rank growth accumulated until canopy closure shaded out the ground storey.

  2. Mowing
    In the last twenty years or so mowing has been utilised by the Malvern Hills Conservators in order to control the spread of trees and scrub on the Hills as the only option deemed available at the time. However, only relatively small areas of the Hills are accessible with a tractor which restricted the areas that could be kept open. Mowing has limited success in reducing fire risk and creating fire breaks although managed areas are always based on accessibility rather than need.
    Mowing without removing the arisings alters the ecology of the grassland from dry acid grassland to a rank tussocky one resulting in the loss of the habitats and species the hills are important for. This is due to the fine-leaved species being covered by cuttings and the resultant build-up of nutrients.

  3. Burning
    Regular burning can prevent succession of grassland to scrub and woodland, by killing seedlings and saplings. However, the frequent treatment required would be detrimental to the flora and fauna and other management techniques would be more appropriate, i.e. grazing, scrub cutting and the selective use of herbicides. Burning could be utilised as an initial management treatment, or where other methods were failing to be effective.
    The burning of gorse is in itself not an effective means of control for gorse or bracken. Fire assists gorse seeds in germinating and does not harm the underground rhizomes of bracken. Burning would only be of use for gorse in its rotational management to achieve an uneven aged stand, and with bracken to reduce the fire risk posed by the litter layer.
    Controlled burning in winter is a useful adjunct to grazing and is used as such in current conservation practice on sites where there is a history of burning and where it provides positive conservation benefits. Burning is not an alternative to grazing; in the absence of grazing, burning simply encourages birch and bracken.

  4. Volunteers
    There are now 25 conservation volunteers, contributing approximately 75 workdays a year to the management of the Malvern Hills and Commons (in total over 3000 acres). The main work projects where volunteers have contributed have been pond work, access improvements, birch and rowan pulling and manual bracken control. They are best suited to relatively small-scale tasks with a defined and visible end point, ideally with an enjoyable skill level.
    From the experience of other organisations who have used volunteers for many years, and from our own experience, volunteers do not offer a sustainable alternative to grazing (actually browsing) for the control of young tree and shrub growth.

  5. Grazing
    Grazing is acknowledged by managers of acid grassland such as the Malvern Hills as the best management tool, other techniques are judged by their ability to mimic its effects. Time and again scientific investigations and practical experience have shown this to be the case (references can be provided). Grazing was the principal method of establishment and management of the Malvern Hills over the millennia, until late in the twentieth century. The Malvern Hills as a major visitor attraction would not exist in its accepted form without grazing.

Options for achieving grazing
If the site is to be grazed the livestock must be contained in some way to prevent them wandering onto the roads or damaging neighbours' land. The Malvern Hills Conservators have therefore looked at various options for keeping the animals on the common.

  1. Full-time tending by a stockman/shepherd
    Although the Conservators shepherd/stockman will be managing all their stock it would be impractical and unreasonable to expect one stockman to cover the area required to ensure all the stock on different parts of the hills grazed the target areas without some form of containment. Therefore the Conservators would need to employ another stockman - a very considerable on-going revenue cost - arguably two people to cover for holidays, sickness, and weekends, and to provide Health and Safety cover. A further £18,000 p.a. year on year revenue cost, assuming one stockman only, is a reasonable if conservative estimate. In addition, the animals would have to be taken onto enclosed in-bye land every evening otherwise cover from a stockman would be needed 24 hours a day. It is also very doubtful whether full-time tending of sheep and/or cattle would be a practical solution as due to terrain and the numbers of visitors and dogs it would be virtually impossible to contain stock on particular areas without some form of fencing.

  2. Tethering
    Tethered animals are vulnerable to dogs. There are complications in providing water for up to a dozen animals as it would have to be individually carted to a trough for each animal. On unproductive habitats like acid grassland livestock must be able to range over a reasonably large area in order to select a balanced diet. Given a very restricted area in which to graze, animals might eat excessive quantities of bracken or other undesirable forage through boredom as much as hunger. There is a need for stock to be checked much more frequently than the legal minimum of once per day. All this additional responsibility and workload makes it unlikely that any outside grazier would be interested and so the Conservators would have to directly employ staff with all the costs listed above.

  3. Temporary Fencing
    Electric fencing is a practical if time consuming option. Moving the fences without losing the stock is managed by temporarily using in-bye land that the Malvern Hills Conservators own or lease adjacent to the hill land. Fencelines need to be checked frequently and will be undertaken by the Conservators stockman (and wardens when the stockman is not working) on CL9, 12 and 16 and by the commoner who is keen to graze on CL14. Water will be supplied using ATV-drawn bowsers which will be secured against moving out of position or potential vandalism by the use of wheel locks and locating them away from well-used areas.
    Electric fencing can sometimes be used to advantage where there is not a major road in very close proximity, where reasonably large grazing areas can be set out without blocking paths, and where the area to be grazed is already in reasonable condition (i.e. not too much bracken and birch) so that the animals can have access to adequate grazing in a concentrated area.
    The landscape impact of an interior temporary fence can be minimised by avoiding placing the fence on ridges, peaks and prominent locations. Due to the density and height of much of the vegetation that will be targeted for grazing the landscape impact of the fencing will be reduced.
    Access on the hills by the public is mainly using the network of public rights of way and pathways, although under the Malvern Hills Acts 1884-1995 there is a public right of access to all land under the jurisdiction of the Conservators. Temporary fencing would be sited so as not to affect any public rights of way and have at least two gated access points at anticipated likely locations where the public may require ingress and egress from the enclosure. The number of access points will depend on the size and location of the enclosure.


  4. Permanent Fencing
    If grazing levels on the Malvern Hills were high enough, or the habitat and landscape condition good enough, then permanent perimeter fencing would provide the ideal solution to the problems encountered. However, as outlined above with the low stocking rates that would occur the scrub re-growth and rank, tussocky grassland would not be managed adequately. Stock will find and eat the most nutritious vegetation they can find, rather than the poorer quality vegetation that needs management.

Proposed Management Option
Overall it is clear to the Malvern Hills Conservators that grazing is not only by far the best option for managing this nationally important site - a view shared by everyone involved in conservation - but also the only practical one. The only other large-scale alternative, mowing, cannot be used on most of the hills due to steep and uneven terrain. Where it can be used it will give significantly poorer results than grazing.

Given the need for targeted, prioritised grazing due to the low numbers of grazing animals the Conservators also believe that there is no effective alternative to using temporary fencing to create grazing compartments.

Management of the stock will ensure that the objectives are achieved, that is:

  1. Grazing will be year round as due to the hills upland characteristics such grassland benefits from all year round traditional upland grazing techniques.

  2. During spring and summer months the stock will be enclosed in temporary fencing of approximately 5 ha for probably up to 2 months - the enclosure will then be moved to another location. The enclosures will focus on the areas cleared of scrub to eat any re-growth. Therefore, prioritised areas will be grazed using a relatively high stocking density for a short period. See maps that show approximate locations of proposed temporary enclosures.

  3. During autumn and winter the stock will range free across the hills providing them with the opportunity to graze the open grassland to reduce the thatch (uneaten material) of vegetation that has developed.

Contributing to the Health, Comfort and Convenience of the Inhabitants of the Neighbourhood (in the context of the existing enjoyment of the common as an open space)

The Malvern Hills Conservators are an organisation that work to increase the enjoyment and understanding of the countryside by the public. Experience on other sites where grazing has been reintroduced is that the visitor experience is enhanced as the animals are an attraction in their own right, especially for families.

As grazing is the only form of practical management in the long-term it is necessary to have some form of fencing to prevent stock straying onto the roads. The issue of stock wandering onto the roads which circumvent the Malvern Hills and surrounding commons is one which a 1994 study (The Malvern Hills SSSI: Feasibility study for the re-introduction of grazing. Davis, 1994, MSc University College London) cited as a major reason for the cessation of grazing. The roads include a particularly busy "A" road (A449) and other main roads which are busy all year, but particularly so during peaks in visitor numbers. In terms of safety for road users and stock, containment of some form is essential.

It is clear that the principal benefits of reintroducing grazing are ecological, landscape and cultural heritage conservation and therefore of importance to the Conservators. This is not by its nature an exclusive benefit; conservation is a benefit to the local and national community and the Conservators can therefore be considered a facilitator rather than a beneficiary in this respect.

The Conservators believes that grazing offers much greater landscape benefit (a public benefit) than other methods of management (although mechanical management is impossible on much of the Malvern Hills due to the steep slopes and rough terrain). It has a more informal effect than mowing, giving soft and unobtrusive edges rather than a sharply delineated cutting pattern. As the main traditional activity on the common, grazing would also preserve the historical and cultural value of the site, in marked contrast to the alien and rather suburbanising effect of amenity mowing.

The Malvern Hills Act 1995 Section 15 (3) gives the Malvern Hills Conservators the authority to fence "for the protection and restoration of the natural beauty of The Malvern Hills and their suitability for rough grazing or recreation".

Scrub management and follow-up grazing provides the conditions for the valued acid grassland habitat and its associated flora and fauna to increase thereby enhancing the ecological interest for visitors and improving access for walkers and riders. In addition, the famous views to and from the Malvern Hills will be maintained (and enhanced in many cases) by the management of scrub with follow-up grazing.

Currently public access is concentrated onto the ridge of the Malvern Hills due mainly to desire but in some places (particularly the central section of the hills) the ridge is the only route as scrub and trees have grown up on either side preventing alternative access routes.

The main private beneficiaries will be the active commoner on CL14 as grazing will be facilitated by allowing temporary fencing which has been prevented previously by problems of stock straying and worrying by dogs. In addition, by enhancing and increasing the grassland vegetation, commoners and/or licensed graziers will be more inclined to utilise it, where perhaps the poor condition of the grassland has prevented grazing.


Public Access and Grazing

The Conservators believe that grazing and public access are entirely compatible on this site. Indeed, as one of the country's earliest conservation organisations the right of public access to all Conservators land is a proudly maintained principle and upheld in statute by the Malvern Hills Acts 1884-1995. However, it has long been understood that there can sometimes be good reasons for the necessity to regulate access, and this has been recognised by the Malvern Hills Acts. Under Section 15 (3) of the Malvern Hills Act 1995 the Conservators may "by notices posted in such places on the Malvern Hills as they think fit regulate or prohibit for such period as may be reasonably necessary access by all, or any part of, the public to any part of the Malvern Hills - (b) for the protection and restoration of the natural beauty of the Malvern Hills and their suitability for rough grazing or recreation."

The Malvern Hills are an extremely important recreational resource with over 1.25 million visitors a year, many of them local. The range of recreational activities is broad from daily dog walkers to hang gliding, orienteering and cycling. The Malvern Hills Conservators have recently provided one, and now have plans for a second, easier access trail for use by the less able and with push-chairs.

It must be emphasised that the proposed stocking densities are very low, and visitors may not even see animals on every visit. Where sheep will be grazing there is likely to be a need for signage informing visitors with dogs that sheep are present and that dogs should be kept under control. There is an existing general obligation in law for owners to keep their dogs under control. The fact that visitors are likely to have to go "out of their way" to enter the enclosures (i.e. they will be located away from paths) should ensure that dog owners are not imposed with a too onerous restriction.

The Conservators will ensure that there will be ready access through and across the enclosures, although the location of the enclosures is designed to ensure minimum impact on visitor movement. No public rights of way are infringed by the enclosures and most of the enclosures are located to avoid desire lines and informal paths.



Ian Rowat (Director)

TOP OF PAGE

Home page Archive INDEX