North Kent Marshes
fleet
, then a bank and one of the Pools managed by the RSPB, then the chalk outcrop, heavily quarried, where one finds Cliffe village.
The North Kent Marshes are in the far north of the county of
Environmentally Sensitive Areas recognised by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). They are in the Thames Gateway regional planning area.[1] They include the 5,289-hectare (20.4 sq mi) South Thames Estuary and Marshes biological SSSI.[2]
Governance
The marshes are nearly contiguous and span the districts of Dartford, Gravesham, Medway, Swale and Canterbury.
They are protected in the Kent and Medway Structure Plan.Planning Law they have been included, regard being had to their environmental benefit.[clarification needed] The marshes serve as emergency natural flood protection for London.
Ecology
Most of the northern edge of
Medway Towns: Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester. Sittingbourne and Faversham are also located on the marshes. The Saxon Shore Way runs along the coast of the marshes, and onwards to Hastings
on the south coast.
The marshes have been recognised as one of the most important natural wetlands in northern Europe, and they are monitored by local landowners and wildlife custodians.
The RSPB have acquired considerable stretches of
Gillingham is also managed, public-access marshland.[5]
The North Kent Marshes' stable water level provides an important habitat for
Allhallows and Grain marshes and Sheppey here are three of their thirteen main habitats in Britain.[citation needed
]
Cultural references
- Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations is partly set in the marshes.
- Books by Nicola Barker are set in the marshes.
- The Channel Four series Southcliffe (2013) was set in a market town amid the marshes. Most of the series was filmed in and around Faversham.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Kent Marshes.
- South Swale - a nature reserve covering the marshes between Faversham and Whitstable
- South Thames Estuary and Marshes - the parts of the marshes currently having SSSI status.
References
- ^ TGKP Working Document 2. 26 Nov 2002
- ^ South Thames Estuary And Marshes SSSI Archived 21 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Natural England. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ "Kent and Medway Structure Plan: Deposit Plan, September 2003" (PDF). Kent County Council. 10 May 2004. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ^ a b c North Kent Marshes Nature Reserves – What's on January—June 2007
- ^ Hoare, Gavin. "Riverside Country Park". www.medway.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2021.