North Dorset (Local Environment Profiles 2011)

• There is no area designated as having poor air quality, requiring an Air Quality Management Area.

Source: DEFRA

• There are 11 river water bodies within North Dorset. Our latest assessment of these classified 4.5% as bad, 13.7% as poor, 54.5% as moderate and 27.3% as good.
• This compares with 148 river water bodies within Dorset. Our latest assessment of these classified 2% as bad, 15% as poor, 40% as moderate and 43% as good.
• The main reasons for less than good status include: high levels of phosphate, impacted fish communities, low levels of dissolved oxygen and physical modification.

Please note - Water bodies do not fit exactly within local authority boundaries. The figures have been derived from those water bodies whose centres are within the district in question. If all water bodies within a district had been included, double accounting would have taken place. Some water bodies have yet to be classified. For the purpose of this exercise, these have been removed from the figures published.

Source: Environment Agency  

• In 2005 both the South West Region and the UK, the largest landuse came from Greenspace with 90.7% and 87.5% respectively. The next largest area of land cover came in the form of domestic gardens with 3.1% in the South West, and 4.3% for the UK average.

• In North Dorset  the two largest landuses are the same, however domestic gardens is significantly lower with 2.2% and greenspace is higher with 94.6%.

• The ninth Local Environmental Quality Survey conducted by Keep Britain Tidy, was carried out between April 2009 and March 2010. The Summary Report key messages included:

~ Overall Standards within England remain the same as last year, with no change in the Cleansing Index score, which is 76, out of a possible 100.

~ 63% of standards for all LEQ indicators were either Good or Satisfactory.

~ The South East joins the South West as top performing region overall, for the first time this year.

~ The South West has been either the top performing region or joint top performing region since the 2007/08 Survey.

• The survey carried out between April 2006-March 2007, is available down to North Dorset Level.

• Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are areas of land that drain into waters polluted by nitrates, such that the ecosystem is at risk of being disturbed, or the water is likely to exceed 50 milligrams of nitrate in each litre.

• Within North Dorset, there is a significant area designated NVZ with one area of deferred slurry storage.

• NVZ regulations come fully into force on 1 Jan 2012, except in deferred Slurry storage areas which have until 1 Jan 2013.
• For more information on NVZ, please see Environment Agency pages.
• For detailed maps relating to NVZ areas, please see source pages.

Source: Environment Agency

• Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) gives advice on dealing with diffuse pollution from agriculture and the impact on water courses.
• CSF is a voluntary initiative, where as NVZs is a statutory obligation. CSF looks at : best practice on manure and pesticide usage; Promoting good soil structure; protecting watercourses from run-off and best practice on stock management.
• There are two catchment sensitive farming projects in North Dorset. The largest one is the Dorset Stour, which covers an area of 437km2
• The Chesil, Fleet, Poole Harbour and Frome river catchment covers an area of 930km2 and is a minor part of North Dorset.

Source: Environment Agency

• Soils in North Dorset can be split in half along a line running west to north east, with the area north of this dominated by clay heavy soils and shallow chalk and limestone soils to the south. Alluvial soils mark the course of the river Stour catchment.

• Soil type is a major factor in determining the type of agriculture that can be supported. Generally light textured soils support cereals and horticulture while shallow chalk limestone soils support grazing and cereals. Clay rich heavy soils often underlie dairy pasture.

• The latest detailed DEFRA data (2007) on the number of holdings (farm types) within North Dorset indicates  47% of farms support lowland grazing (sheep and beef), 22% dairy and 15% cereals.

Source : DEFRA

• For the period April 2005-March 2010 inclusive, there was one incident of major impact to air, and one of major impact to water in North Dorset. In addition, there were 2 incidents of significant impact to air, four incidents of significant impact to land, and 7 incidents of significant impact to water.

• For the period April 2010 - March 2011 inclusive, there were no incidents of major impact to land,air or water in North Dorset.

• For the same period, there was one incident of significant impact to air.

Source : Environment Agency

• During 2009/10 there were 331 reported incidents of flytipping in North Dorset, the third lowest in Dorset and fifth lowest for a district or unitary authority in the region. This was a 20% fall from 415 incidents in 2008/09.

Please note: incidents of fly tipping are reported differently by each council. One may log black bin bags out on an incorrect day as a fly tipping incident where another council do not log this. Please be aware of these reporting discrepancies on Flycapture when looking at the data in comparison to other councils.

• North Dorset District Council was not in the the top ten lowest producers of residual waste produced however were doing well in the bottom half of the league table in the South West, with 488kg/household produced.
  

• In 2009/10, South Hams had the lowest level of residual waste in the South West with 341.04kg/household. The highest in the South West was Isles of Scilly Council with 1,452kg/household. 

• Recycling and composting has increased significantly in the South West, from 14.9% in 2000 / 2001 to 43.5% in 2009 / 2010.

• North Dorset District Council  in 2009/10 had the eighth lowest amount of recycling in the South West with 32.6%. 

• The highest rate of recycling in the South West was Cotswold District Council with 60.4%, and the lowest rate in the South West was Isles of Scilly with 18.9%.

Source: DEFRA

• Dorset County Council landfilled 103,893 tonnes, which was the sixth highest amount of tonnes landfilled in the South West. However, this  was also the fifth lowest percentage landfilled (47.94%) in the South West.

• Bournemouth Borough Council landfilled the least percentage waste in 2009/10 (37.8%). Plymouth City Council landfilled the largest percentage of waste in 2009/10 (64%).  Devon County Council however landfilled the largest amount in tonnes with 194,720 tonnes.