Natural England

Background

Over recent years a number of landscape-scale partnership projects, such as the “Mineral Valleys” Project, have delivered benefits for people in the North East. Utilising the Natural Environment as a key driver Natural England wants to take the ‘Best Practice’ and ‘Lessons Learned’ from such projects forward to deliver sustainable development through long-term landscape-scale partnership working. A conference in March 2007 established the feasibility of such a partnership for the Magnesian Limestone Natural Area.

What is it all about?

The Limestone Landscapes Partnership will act as a first demonstration project, informing the work of Natural England, Durham County Council and other partners. The Limestone Landscapes Partnership was developed through a participative stakeholder engagement process in a series of workshops in February and March 2008. The partnership was formally established with the first meeting of the Task Group on 22 April 2008.

Working together in a landscape-scale Partnership to make a positive difference to quality of life and to the unique natural environment of the Magnesian Limestone area - Partnership Vision (click to open map)

Who is involved?

Currently, Natural England, Durham County Council, Durham Biodiversity Partnership, Durham Rural Community Council, the Woodland Trust, the Forestry Commission, Groundwork East Durham and the Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham & Northumberland are represented on the partnership’s Task Group. In total 29 organisations, fora and other partnerships were involved in the stakeholder workshops.

The secretariat for the partnership is currently held by Natural England. Please contact:

Dr. Ingo Schüder, Partnership Development Specialist, External Affairs Team, North East region
Ingo.schuder@naturalengland.org.uk or 0191 229 3386

More information:

For more information on the biodiversity in the partnership area, please download the Natural Area Profile For more information on the biodiversity in the partnership area, please download the Natural Area Profile.

For more information about the landscape in the area, please visit the Durham Magnesian Limestone Plateau landscape page.

Documents for download

For those interested in the development of the the Limestone Landscapes Partnership or landscape-scale partnerships generally, the key reports are listed below for download.

• Partnership overview ,May 2008, latest version of partnership vision, aims, objectives, high-level actions, project criteria, principles and model for partnership.
• Summary report , April 2008, covering the development of the partnership, with key outcomes, conclusions and the way forward. It also lists the members of the Task Group (new partnership steering group) and attendees of workshops.
• Detailed Evaluation report , April 2008, including an analysis of the process of developing the partnership, including feedback forms from workshops & recommendations for setting up landscape-scale partnerships elsewhere
• Full transcript of the second stakeholder workshop , Seaham, 18 March 2008. Also available in summary form .
• Full transcript of the first stakeholder workshop , Seaham, 21 February 2008. Also available in summary form .
• Feasibility Study , April 2007, summarizing outcomes from feasibility conference from March 2007.