County Wildlife Sites
Nearly 400 sites have been recognized as County Wildlife Sites and these total approximately
8500 hectares in area. (Roughly 7% of the county).
What is a County Wildlife Site?
A County Wildlife Site is a site that has been recognized as important for wildlife when
assessed against a set of criteria. The selection guidelines consider aspects of the site such as
Size, Diversity, Rarity, Fragility, Typicalness and Recorded History.
Recognition as a CWS does not confer protection on the site, or right of access, however for any
significant change of land use the planning authorities will
expect the wildlife interest to be taken into account alongside other
normal planning considerations.
Local conservation organisations may comment on planning applications that could affect a CWS.
Grants may be available to help manage a CWS for the benefit of wildlife.
A leaflet can be downloaded that summarizes the CWS system...
Current CWSs
As of 11/11/2005 there are 390 CWSs in Bedfordshire and Luton. Here are...
Site descriptions, species records and detailed maps can be obtained from the BRMC using this Information Request Form.
A digital layer containing the site boundaries as polygons for use in a GIS is also available on request.
To obtain this please complete the Information Request Form making sure that you include your OS Licence number.
(This layer contains site boundaries only - i.e. no other information about the sites).
All SSSIs (and NNRs) have been adopted as County Wildlife Sites. Most of the LNRs have also been adopted, though the boundaries are not necessarily
identical. Some of the RNRs are also CWSs.
A sites database is available for County Recorders for use in Recorder 2002. This includes details on about
1200 sites (including non-designated sites). Contact the BRMC to obtain a copy.
CWS Selection
CWSs are recognized by the CWS Panel which operates according to the following Terms of Reference...
The CWS Panel assesses potential sites against the following selection guidelines...
The CWS Panel contains representatives from the following organisations...
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Bedford Borough Council |
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Bedford Museum |
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Bedfordshire & Luton Biodiversity Recording and Monitoring Centre |
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Bedfordshire County Council |
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Bedfordshire Natural History Society |
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English Nature |
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Luton Borough Council |
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The Environment Agency |
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The Greensand Trust |
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The Ivel and Ouse Countryside Project |
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The North Chilterns Trust |
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The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds |
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The Wildlife Trust |
Monitoring and Surveying
Sites are periodically monitored to determine their condition. Monitoring protocols
have been developed to assess the biological health of a site and determine if it is in a
favourable or unfavourable condition and to recommend actions improve them.
Site surveys are undertaken to determine if a site meets the criteria for a CWS and
then periodically thereafter as resources permit. These allow more comprehensive species lists to be built
up for sites and for plant communities to be classified (to NVC), mapped and monitored over time.
HERE (.zip 301KBytes) are a suite of documents and forms that are used in the monitoring process.
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