Biodiversity and wildlife
Ashford's green
spaces and waterways are incredibly important, providing a huge
range of benefits including flood protection, wildlife
conservation, recreational space, leisure activities, education and
cultural experiences.
Ashford is home to a diverse range of wildlife species, and
contains a number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) and
National Nature Reserves (NNR) chosen because of their
national importance for wildlife.
Ashford already has a Site of Nature Conservation Interest
(SNCI) at the South
Willesborough Dykes - a wetland habitat home to a
wide variety of plants, invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, birds
and small mammals - and there are plans to increase other areas
with rich biodiversity within the borough.
Key Projects
-
Singleton Environment
Centre - the first centre of its
kind in the borough, this brand new building is a multi-purpose
venue next to the Ashford Community Woodland for local community,
volunteer and environmental groups.
- Willesborough Dykes - this 780 acre site of
floodplain land will become a major new recreational area,
with new cycle paths, whilst protecting and enhancing the
invaluable wildlife habitats and landscape features.
- Urban Fringe Project - a project
to restore the traditional landscape and create quality
wildlife habitat in the 94 hectares of public open spaces close to
the urban areas of Ashford.
- Wildlife Mitigation Sites - a
project that will make it easier for developers
to relocate protected wildlife from their sites on to safe
green land within the borough, and will also generate captial
towards managing and enhancing Ashford's open spaces
Take a look at the Kent Biodiversity Action
Plan for further information and how you can get involved in
conserving biodiversity, or see Ashford's areas of outstanding
natural beauty, conservation areas and
SSSI with the ABC
mapping of areas