Prioritisation of historic parklands in AES

Descriptions

The Historic Parkland Prioritisation Assessment is a tool, in MS Excel, based on the prioritisation criteria outlined in Cookson & Tickner 2013. It is used by Advisers when first approached about a parkland. It helps the Adviser understand the significance and risks associated with a parkland, ultimately assigning a priority to the site being assessed. The results of the Prioritisation Assessment are to give the parkland a priority score of High / Medium / Low. The resulting priority enables the Adviser and Area Team to assess the availability of resource (time and budget) that would be required in taking forward a parkland. The Excel spreadsheet sits in a central location and is a record of all parklands that have been scored. A total of 602 parklands are in agri-environment agreements that are coming to an end in 2023-25. This is based on the number of agreements with a common parkland option requiring a management plan. It is possible that a number of the identified agreements are small single fields of wood pasture. This is anticipated to be in the minority. This project will assess these agreements using the Historic Parkland Prioritisation Assessment tool. This will provide an understanding of the exact numbers likely to require resource from both the expert cohort in FCS and more significantly in Area Teams. It is anticipated that the parklands are assessed in order of agri-environment scheme expiry, from soonest to latest.