Northern Beaches Council engaged Arcadis Australia Pacific Pty Ltd to assess the ecological value of the ‘deferred lands’, bounded by the suburbs of Cromer, Narraweena, Beacon Hill, Oxford Falls, Frenchs Forest, Belrose and Belrose North, which are subject to Warringah LEP 2000.

Stage 1 of the assessment focused on reviewing and summarising existing ecological information for the deferred lands area using a combination of desktop research and field assessment, and to identify knowledge gaps in the ecological value of the area.

Stage 2 of the assessment comprised field surveys designed to fill gaps in knowledge of ecological values present within the deferred area. Areas of very high, high, moderate, and low conservation significance were determined throughout the deferred lands area using five criteria. The conservation significance criteria are:

• Threatened species habitat (extent and quality)
• Threatened ecological communities (extent and quality)
• Proximity to protected bushland
• Wildlife corridors and connectivity
• Riparian land/water sustainability.

Readers should also note that a separate LGA wide study, the ‘Biodiversity Planning Review’ includes the mapping of Core Habitats and Biodiversity (wildlife) Corridors covering the deferred lands.

Northern Beaches Council (NBC) is reviewing its planning instruments and developing a new, integrated Local Environment Plan (LEP) and Development Control Plan (DCP) to guide its long-term strategic land-use planning. Detailed information regarding areas of high ecological value or conservation significance within the deferred lands area is critical to prioritise areas of high biodiversity value for conservation during land use planning and to inform future zoning of the deferred lands. The LEP and DCP will include the definition of Conservation zones and new biodiversity planning controls to protect native vegetation, wildlife habitat and connectivity, and threatened entities (threatened species, threatened ecological communities and threatened populations).

The deferred lands area contains significant habitat for threatened flora and fauna and contains patches of national and state listed Threatened Ecological Communities (TECs), totalling over 30 hectares. It also provides a significant buffer to, and an extension of, suitable habitat from the protected Garigal National Park. In future planning for the area, these values must be retained to assist in protecting the biodiversity of the Northern Beaches LGA.

Most of the deferred lands has high (52%) or very high (15%) ecological/conservation value using the five ecological value criteria. Many of the areas of highest ecological value will likely be inaccessible for development, due to the steep and rugged nature of the area as well as bushfire risk. Other areas also contain high or very high ecological values, especially along creeks and in areas with vegetation mapped as TECs. Moderate ecological values (16%) consist primarily of buffers or edges around urbanised locations that generally show moderate levels of disturbance. More accessible areas and those adjacent to current cleared areas still have ecological value as fauna habitat or buffer zones and wildlife corridors. Areas mapped as low ecological value (17%) are generally already cleared, and mostly developed.

To determine the most appropriate zoning for environmental protection of parts of the deferred lands, the assessment shows that many areas of the deferred lands study area have the ecological values that would make them good candidates for a Conservation zone. The deferred lands are surrounded by National Parks (C1 zoned land), but parts of the deferred lands are contiguous with this area and likely to have similar values.

When reading the review, we want to know if you agree with the approach and criteria used in the assessment to identify and map threatened ecological communities, threatened flora and fauna species habitat, and the ecological/conservation values categories for the deferred lands?