Wilmslow Town Council has joined The Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership and appointed Councillor Jon Kelly, Vice Chair of the Town Council, as its representative. Brian Donohue, Chair of the Wilmslow Neighbourhood Plan Implementation Group, has been selected to chair the partnership .
The Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership is a collective of community organisations, landowners, relevant Local Authorities, academics and Charitable organisations that are committed to working together in order to conserve, restore and interpret the wider Lindow Moss Landscape for the benefit of nature, the climate and people.
The formation of a Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership was one of the aspirations of the Wilmslow Neighbourhood plan, which recognised Lindow Moss as a landscape “with ecological and historical value but no statutory protection, except through its location in the Green Belt.”
The Lindow Moss wider landscape and the other large natural landscapes in Wilmslow, including the river valleys, heathlands and mire habitats at Lindow Common, are complex ecosystems in which wildlife has adapted to live over hundreds of years. These individual landscapes are interlinked, and therefore when one is damaged, it will negatively impact the adjacent linked landscapes. It is therefore essential to protect and preserve all of these to achieve optimal biodiversity and ecological stability. Wilmslow’s Countryside: A Landscape Character Assessment, produced for the Neighbourhood Plan can be found on the WTC website.
Driven by Wilmslow Neighbourhood Plan aspiration A1, Wilmslow Town Council and the Wilmslow Neighbourhood Plan Implementation group have established a Lindow Moss Partnership with a view to conserving, restoring and interpreting the landscape as a Local Nature Improvement Area.
A ‘bottom-up’ partnership driven by the local community, the formation of the Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership was led by the Wilmslow Town Council’s Neighbourhood Plan Implementation Group and consists of Transition Wilmslow, the Friends of Lindow Moss, the parish councils of Wilmslow, Chorley, Mobberley and Great Warford, Cheshire East Council, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Mersey Rivers Trust, Natural England and Groundwork. There is strong support from specialists in prehistory, ecology and peatland restoration at Manchester University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester Museum and the British Museum. Wilmslow Historical Society, Wilmslow Civic Trust and the Wilmslow Guild for Lifelong Learning are also all actively involved.
The activities of the Lindow Moss Partnership are overseen by the Lindow Moss Partnership Steering Group – made up of representatives from each of the founding partners together with additional co-optees to support and guide the long-term vision of the partnership and monitor the implementation of their work.
Councillor Jon Kelly, who will represent Wilmslow Town Council within the Steering group, said, “Lindow Moss is an important part of Wilmslow. During Covid, it provided a real lifesaver for people to get out into the countryside.
“I am really pleased the partnership is coming into being, after some really excellent work by the skilled volunteers in the Neighbourhood Plan Implementation team.
“I was delighted to be nominated to the Steering Group and I hope I can make a good contribution to the partnership’s work.
“If members of the community would like to get involved and contribute to the future of Lindow Moss, Transition Wilmslow are launching a group called Friends of Lindow Moss.”
Brian Donohue, Chair of the Wilmslow Neighbourhood Plan Implementation Group (WNPIG) added, “ WNPIG has over a two-year period harnessed the latent and active interest of many groups and individuals to come together to form the Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership and participate in a planned 10 year programme.
“This was enabled by Wilmslow Town Council funding the appointment of Groundwork to work with WNPIG as lead partners and apply for grant funding.
“It is a credit to all involved that this important partnership is now active.”