An Improperly Conducted Consultation

Created June 2009

Earlier this year Bristol City Council and Natural England completed their public and scientific consultations about management policy for the Avon Gorge. There can be little doubt that they will now claim that they have public and scientific support for their proposals. This claim will not be acceptable, however, because there are serious questions about the conduct of the consultative process.

When the issue of Avon Gorge management was first raised publically in 2006, with headlines in the Evening Post reading "Avon Gorge Trees Face the Axe", Natural England responded by saying that the Avon Gorge was a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for grassland and therefore necessitated the clearance of trees. In the public consultation on the same management proposals held this year it was also claimed that the Avon Gorge is an SAC for grassland. This is not the case. The relevant conservation document is entitled "Avon Gorge Woodlands", (see box below).
The Avon Gorge is an SAC for woodland. Grassland is "a qualifying feature". Thus in Annex I grassland in the Avon Gorge SAC is described as a "habitat present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for selection of this site". This hardly justifies Natural England and BCC describing the Avon Gorge as an SAC for grassland.

Annex I habitats that are a primary reason for selection of this site
9180 Tilio-Acerion forests of slopes, screes and ravines
* Priority feature
Avon Gorge is representative of Tilio-Acerion forests in south-west England on the limestone cliffs and screes of a large river gorge. It is important because of the high concentration of small-leaved lime Tilia cordata, compared with other sites in the region, the presence of rare whitebeams Sorbus spp., including two unique to the Avon Gorge (S. bristoliensis and S. wilmottiana), and other uncommon plants, such as green hellebore Helleborus viridis. Other characteristic species include soft shield-fern Polystichum setiferum and hart’s-tongue Phyllitis scolopendrium. Species-rich transitions to scrub and grasslands are associated with the woodland. Small groves of yew Taxus baccata also occur on some of the stonier situations.
Annex I habitats present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for selection of this site
6210 Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies: on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia)

Now an argument can be made for increasing grassland at the expense of woodland in certain parts of the Avon Gorge. But no argument can be made for misleading the public as to the facts of the matter in the course of a publically funded consultation, particularly in the context of wide public unease at the prospect of large scale tree felling. The council's claims are both misleading and manipulative of public opinion.