The 1.1million square foot employment area, a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, is next to our Highfield Moss nature reserve, a large area of its 12 hectares is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Developers Tritax (Wigan) have offered offsetting to ensure the nature reserve is safeguarded during building and once the enormous development is completed. It will be primarily a freight terminal where road and rail transport meets and includes a sub station, car parking and an access road to the nearby M6 motorway.

Residents fear the centre will generate thousands of extra cars and lorries onto local roads and damage the local environment and the nature reserve.

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust believes that Tritax have offered some meaningful mitigation areas next to Highfield Moss, including a buffer zone and a northern mitigation area, where complimentary habitat is to be created.  Benefits will also include changing neighbouring farmland habitat to complimentary habitat that would benefit the bog and reduce nutrient input. 

Buffer zone

 However, we do have concerns. Natural England feel that the data shows the site to be hydrologically linked to the SSSI along its western edge and that this might have an impact. We agree with Natural England that the buffer zone needs to be at least 100m wide in this area, with a minimum of 50m elsewhere. 

Air quality data indicates a slight increase in atmospheric pollution, but this probably will not have an adverse impact as the levels are within the tolerance ranges of the mossland vegetation. There will however be an increase in nitrogen deposition on the moss. The consultants maintain that as this is less than a one per cent increase it is not significant. The problem with this is that the baseline nitrogen deposition is already above the tolerance range of some of the habitats within the SSSI, so any increase might make it increasingly difficult for bog species to flourish. 

The modelling is also based on habitats present, not habitats we are aiming for - some of these have a lower tolerance range and therefore potentially makes it more difficult for us to achieve the target vegetation. 

 Outside of the SSSI, the surveys have shown the site to be of county level importance for its farmland birds. The mitigation areas will provide suitable habitat, although they are trying to provide recreational opportunities in there as well which may conflict with biodiversity objectives. 

For Highfield Moss SSSI the residual impacts are shown to be – “minor beneficial” at the national level and not considered to be significant. However, if the hydrological connectivity is shown to impact the SSSI this would change to an “adverse impact”. 

There will be a residual impact on the Risley, Holcroft and Chat Moss National Nature Reserve and the Manchester Mosses Special Area of Conservation, mostly due to increases in traffic along the motorway next to Holcroft Moss. They indicate they will need to pay into the restoration fund required as part of the Holcroft Moss Supplementary Planning Document.  

More ambitious

The residual impact for breeding and wintering farmland birds is “minor adverse effect at the local level” and not considered to be significant. Also, “residual minor impacts” for bats and badgers and “minor benefits” for great crested newts. 

Our opinion is that the delivery needs to be more ambitious, given the significant loss of open habitat that supports a wealth of important biodiversity assets and especially when it comes to birds. We would prefer for the developers to be seeking greater “benefits” rather than being satisfied with “minor impacts”.

When the site is developed, users will benefit from having important wild areas and habitats around the.

As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, this should be holding itself up as an exemplar of how development can bring real benefits for biodiversity. There is a real opportunity here for considerable biodiversity gains.