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Local Authorities and Sustainable Peatland Management: Current Opportunities and Future Possibilities for Local Approaches
Flood prevention
Local authorities are responsible for creating local flood risk management strategies to address local flood risks from surface run off, groundwater and ordinary water courses (that do not form part of Wales’ main rivers). The strategy must set out how it relates to wider environmental objectives, which could include peat restoration. This would also sit well with the local authority’s duty to ‘aim to make a contribution to sustainable development’ in their flood defence operations. NRW, other local authorities and water companies, all have duties to consider this strategy in their own flood risk management activities. Local flood risk management strategies, therefore, have the potential to encourage SPM as a ‘nature-based solution’ to flood mitigation among other organsiations. Local authorities also have powers to carry out flood risk management works to help implement their local flood risk management strategies. Flood risk management works may be used to maintain or restore natural processes and/or monitor, investigate or survey a location or a natural process. I n addition, local authorities have powers to designate structures or natural or man-made features of the environment that affect flood risk (or coastal erosion risk) with the effect that consent is required to alter, remove or replace the structure or feature. This allows the local authority to protect assets that are important to flood risk management but are not in its ownership. These powers of local authorities to take action on flooding may assist in developing nature-based solutions to flooding such as peat restoration. Flood risk management may be viewed as a core function of local authorities, given their duties to provide strategies and designate structures and features that present a flood risk. However, crucially, they have powers rather than duties to develop flood risk management works. These works will, therefore, be dependent on funding streams. The flood risk management activities of local authorities are also restricted by their local administrative boundaries, which will not necessarily fit with relevant natural boundaries. In addition, these activities are also restricted to sources of flooding related to surface run off, groundwater and ordinary water courses. For all these reasons, developing nature-based solutions to flood risk management will require a multi-level partnership approach involving other actors such as NRW and the Wales Flood and Coastal Committee Access to peatlands Local authorities have extensive powers and duties with respect to access to the countryside that can also be important in providing access to peatlands for local community engagement. Promoting access to peatlands is important in helping communities to engage with these areas, but it is also necessary to ensure that the needs of the natural environment are considered.
Public Rights of Way
Public rights of way provide public access to routes for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and vehicles depending on their designation. Local authorities must provide ‘definitive maps’ of public rights of way (PROWs) for their area and are responsible for their signposting,
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