Creating a wilder railway in Nottinghamshire

Network Rail is an arm's length public body of the Department for Transport, responsible for the safe and efficient running of the railway infrastructure. The organisation is run as five regions, each with responsibility for safety, performance, and the environment. 

The Eastern Region comprises four routes: East Coast Route, North & East Route, East Midlands Route, and the Anglia Route.  It contains over 6,000 kilometres of track within 15,688 hectares of land. This extensive estate passes through national parks and areas of outstanding beauty amongst other environmentally protected sites, including over 60 sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).

The railway dates back almost 200 years and can play a vitally important role in connecting fragmented wildlife habitats across our countryside.  These green corridors offer visual amenity benefits for commuters, reduce disturbance to lineside neighbours, and much needed carbon capture through the network’s stock of over six million trees.

In recent years, Network Rail’s approach to vegetation management has been criticised for often being reactive and focussed on minimising risks to safety and performance, such as management of ‘leaves on the line’, at the expense of biodiversity, like nesting birds.

In 2018 the Department for Transport commissioned John Varley to produce an independent review of Network Rail’s approach to vegetation management. It concluded that while the organisation correctly focuses management objectives on safety and performance, in future it should also consider the need to benefit biodiversity and the wider environment.   As one of the country’s largest public landowners, Network Rail has a leading role to play in delivering the targets stated in the UK Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

The outcomes of the Biodiversity Action Plan will be realised locally by delivering the following programme of work.

• A stocktake of the biodiversity already present on the estate using up-to-date satellite imagery.
• Actively seeking the assistance of local stakeholders to understand more about the wildlife and habitats associated with the railway, and any existing management taking place.
• Seeking to understand how to best manage the lineside estate with a view to connecting habitat fragments across the landscape, through working with local partners on neighbouring land.
• Integrating this new information with Network rail’s existing lineside management data. This will support joined up decision making to ensure delivery of safety, performance, and biodiversity outcomes.
• Drawing up route level action plans containing local section plans in consultation with stakeholders, neighbours, and local communities. 
• Contributing to wider conservation initiatives, such as the National Pollinator Strategy and the Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

Over the coming years, experts from within Wildlife Trust Consultancies will help Network Rail develop their own ecological expertise and embed environmental best practice into the daily work of the organisation.

Wildlife Trust Consultancies*, as a trusted network of local experts in biodiversity and ecology, have been enlisted by Network Rail to inform and support the delivery of their Biodiversity Action Plan throughout the Eastern region.  EMEC Ecology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, is leading a project team of experts, to collate biodiversity data, identify priority habitats and population of species within and alongside the network, and develop and monitor local action plans to deliver long term biodiversity benefits on the ground.  Through local Wildlife Trusts, the project team will seek to engage, learn from and work with community conservation organisations, local authorities, and neighbouring landowners with the aim of gathering insights about biodiversity near the railways and the opportunities for enhancing it, and maintain regular communication about the progress throughout the project.

* Wildlife Trust Consultancies are owned by independent Wildlife Trust charities and their profits support conservation work across the country.  Although independent of their parent Wildlife Trusts, they share many of their advantages - particularly their expertise in the local natural environment.

Initially, management plans will be produced that recognise the biodiversity already present on and close to site and are sensitive to the work of local conservation groups and projects.  These plans will bring the management of biodiversity into the mainstream of Network Rail’s ‘everyday’ operational work. 

Looking ahead, when essential management of the railway results in unavoidable loss of biodiversity on the lineside estate, this will be mitigated through habitat creation and restoration along the local route, or by funding projects within the wider local landscape.  By engaging with local partners, this publicly funded off-site work will aim to fit with local priorities and contribute to delivering local Nature Recovery Networks.

With the help of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Network Rail is seeking to identify and engage with relevant individuals and organisations with a potential interest in the project and the means or knowledge to help restore nature across the railway.

If you collect or store ecological records, are a neighbouring landowner, are an organisation delivering conservation projects locally, or have a remit for working with nature across the landscape, the project team want to hear from you!

The project team is planning to hold local online information sessions and to invite participation in an online survey to capture your knowledge about biodiversity near the railway lines and the opportunities for enhancing it.

If you can’t make either session, register your interest by email and we’ll send you a link to the survey once it launches: NRBiodiversity@emec-ecology.co.uk

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The information you provide will be processed in accordance with Network Rail’s data policy. This information will be shared with the project team consisting of representatives from Network Rail and within Wildlife Trust Consultancies. You may be contacted by the team for purposes related to biodiversity enhancement in your local area. The information you provide will be used to inform biodiversity planning on the Network Rail Eastern lineside estate. The biodiversity plans as well as a list of contributing organisations will be made available on the  Network Rail website.

Network Rail’s project has the potential to deliver real benefits for wildlife, for communities, and for adjacent landowners across the county.  To achieve these benefits though, it relies upon the support of individuals and groups that already have knowledge of the biodiversity close to the railway, and the potential for enhancing it.

Share your knowledge of the species and habitats present, of existing conservation projects close by, and the local priorities in your area, so this can be built into Network Rail’s habitat and vegetation management plans.  This means local knowledge will be at the heart of routine railway maintenance and development.  What is more, projects and opportunities can be identified that might benefit from Network Rail’s support in the future.

Network Rail is an arm’s length public body of the Department for Transport.  This means its work is funded by taxpayer’s money.  As an organisation, it is committed to enhancing biodiversity across the region and recognises that the most effective way of doing so is through collaboration.  It is hoped the project will be recognised as offering individuals and organisations the opportunity to inform and contribute to nature’s recovery and the health and wellbeing of the communities where they live and work.

Where ecological data is only available through a financial transaction, decisions will be made on the basis of best value.

Network Rail have a number of ways in which you can get in touch including contact form, telephone, live chat, or by post.  All the details can be found online at their Network Rail website.