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Environmental planning in Balaclava |
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WelcomeWelcome to
the home page of Environmental Planning in Balaclava, an eighteen
month long project under the Small Environmental Projects Scheme (SEPS)
of the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID),
administered by the British
Council and Dames
& Moore. Contents
Aim
of the project
The aim
of the project is to produce a Local Environmental Action Plan (LEAP)
for Balaclava. This will provide the town's civil authorities with a
structured plan for its environment including a long-term vision of
the future of Balaclava promoted through sustainable development.
Location
of Balaclava
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| Balaclava
is a small town of about 20,000 people on Crimea's southwest coast. It
is situated in a picturesque setting some 15km southeast of the centre
of Sevastopol and, at present, it forms a part of greater Sevastopol.
Balaclava occupies a secluded rocky bay which has an unusual S-shaped form and a very narrow entrance, about 90m wide. The town itself lies mostly to the north and east of the harbour, surrounded by hills inland and protected by the steep cliffs of the Black Sea coast. In the distance to the northeast the Crimean mountain range can be seen. |
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| A
Brief History of the Town
Enclosed
by cliffs, Balaclava Bay was of great strategic importance on the Black
Sea coast: a ruined Genoese castle and the remnants of Cembalo fortress
on the spectacular heights of the eastern cape have guarded the narrow
entrance into the bay since mediaeval times. But the history of Balaclava
goes back a lot further. An early Taurian settlement was situated there
from the 8th century BC, and.Balaclava Bay was mentioned in ancient
Greek tragedies. The bay was described by Byzantine historians as a
Harbour of Symbols. Subsequently St George's monastery, the oldest in
Crimea, was founded nearby on Cape Violent. In the 15th century Turks
captured the Genoese colonies in Crimea and thereafter Cembalo was given
a new name - Balyk-Love, or Fish's Nest.
More than anywhere else, the histories of Ukraine and the United Kingdom meet in the harbour of Balaclava. In the period of the Crimean war (1853-1856), Balaclava was a base for the British Army. Having fortified it around with a double row of redoubts and batteries, the British built in the town the functional and attractive stonework of the town's waterfront, hotels and even the first railway in Crimea to connect their base with front-line positions near Sevastopol. They renovated the old Genoese road and repaired the water supply from the upper castle on Kefalo-Vrici hill. The memorial to the famous charge of the Light Brigade led by the Earl of Cardigan is a few minutes' drive from the town centre. Though British cannons can still be seen around the harbour, they are now used peacefully, embedded end-up in the stonework as capstans for mooring boats. |
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— | The
Project's Background
Balaclava's agreeable setting and evident historical attractions make it hugely suitable for development of sustainable tourism. The town was a famous Black Sea resort up to the beginning of the 20th century. During Soviet times Balaclava was a closed military site. With the end of the Cold War, the submarine base of Balaclava was largely decomissioned. Now, with previous security restrictions lifted, tourism is the town's best hope for economic recovery. Working out a general strategy of improvement for the environment and producing a Local Environmental Action Plan are therefore very timely activities: the histories of Ukraine and the UK are meeting again in Balaclava, this time to integrate efforts for sustainable development.
Description
of the Project
The project is a key stage in the process of planning in Balaclava. It reflects the local administration's strong intention to reduce the negative impacts of the recent past. The worst of these impacts is severe pollution of the harbour, Balaclava's most important potential asset. There are several serious environmental problems of which the most significant are the submarine base legacy of contaminated mud and debris, and waste water from harbour buildings flowing directly into the bay. The SEPS project, in addition to producing a LEAP, is helping to deal with the waste water problem, by putting local authorities in touch with appropriate British expertise for the development of a suitable new sewage system for the town, and for sustainable treatment of waste water from Balaclava's waterfront buildings. Apart from the harbour pollution, the LEAP addresses other current ecological problems of the town and its surrounding raion - the quarry, the water supply, marine pollution, unsustainable use for recreation, forest fires etc. This plan is pioneer work for Balaclava: a radical attempt to move away from the present situation by listing the town's environmental problems and by providing a vision of what the town should be like in the future. In some cases, of course, it is only possible to identify the problem as something which will need attention when suitable resources become available, but in many other cases the plan describes the steps needed to deal with the problem, and makes provision for new activities affecting the environment to be developed in a sustainable manner. The LEAP is therefore a framework promoting gradual improvement and providing a focus for future funding to reduce water pollution in the harbour and to solve other urgent environmental problems. The LEAP consists of a number of chapters dealing with various issues relating to the human and natural environment, balancing economic and social priorities with the need for nature conservation. Regarding tourism as a source of further growth, the LEAP encompasses not only Balaclava's environmental problems but also its strengths: superb coastal scenery, opportunities for diving and other recreation, historical sites, vineyards, rare organisms, potential new nature reserves and sites of special scientific interest, forest land within the raion's boundary etc. It is a basis for future production of a development plan for tourism and further proposals to different donors for various environmental improvements to the town and raion. These include development of a marina, restoration of the historic waterfront houses and the museum, development of a town trail, improvement of access to the ruined Genoese castle at the entrance to the bay, and other sympathetic and sustainable attractions, providing future employment and prosperity to the town, raising awareness locally of the important natural assets of the raion, and conserving local biological diversity. The first draft of the LEAP, concerning mostly nature environment, has been already prepared. Before the end of the project the draft of the LEAP will be placed for public consultations to consider further comments, proposals and developments including public opinion on the main town's and raion's environmental issues. Supporting Organisations
Contacts
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