Wildlife Trusts: New scheme could make developers help reverse wildlife declines

The new approach, known as ‘net gain,’ would ensure wildlife gets a better deal from new developments.  It would mean that developers not only compensate and mitigate for any damaged caused to the natural world, they would have to measurably add to it and improve it – by creating additional new nature-friendly spaces that enable bees, butterflies, and birds to recover and thrive.

The Wildlife Trusts want developers to:

• Avoid damaging wild places by locating new buildings in the least harmful place – they must not simply pay a tariff giving them a licence to destroy
• Mitigate any damage that they cause and compensate if they cannot
• Be legally required to deliver ambitious, measurable gains for wildlife which are 20% above such compensation; these gains must be secured and managed in perpetuity*

Dr Sue Young, Head of Land Use Planning and Ecological Networks at The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“The creation of local Nature Recovery Network maps will be critical to the success of net gain. These maps will show developers and decision makers where to avoid harm to the natural environment and where to actively contribute to its recovery by identifying the opportunities where we need to join-up fragmented places which are important for wild plants and animals. The Wildlife Trusts want these maps to be a legal requirement – the mechanism that will make net gain actually work.

“We want to see nature put at the heart of new developments, so that new homes are great for both people and wildlife. Imagine living in a house where swifts swoop over the garden, where the school ‘run’ is a walk alongside a wildflower meadow buzzing with bumblebees; where cycle paths wind past reed-fringed ponds dancing with dragonflies and where bird houses, bat boxes, tree-lined streets and hedgerows are part of the natural landscape, and your garden is a hedgehog highway. This should become the norm.

“There’s a huge challenge ahead – thousands of new houses are to be built yet we need to restore the natural world. We’re calling on developers to build beautiful, nature-friendly communities in the right places, creating and restoring more wild places than are destroyed or damaged by building.”

The Wildlife Trusts already influence thousands of planning applications every year, so that they benefit people and wildlife.

The government has yet to address net gain in the marine environment. There has been an explosion of off-shore development at sea over the past decade with further swathes planned. This provides potential opportunities for net gain, which could contribute towards nature’s recovery at sea.

Dr Sue Young, adds:

“We’re very disappointed there are no signs that the net gain approach will apply to major infrastructure projects that are extremely damaging to our natural heritage. We’re calling on government to make a commitment to rectify this – so that every time a new road or large development such as HS2 is built, the same principles should apply.”

Editor’s notes

*20% is about quality, not quantity.

Links:

• Government Consultation on Net Gain closed on Sunday 10th February 2019 https://consult.defra.gov.uk/land-use/net-gain/
• Nature Recovery Network - more info here
• Homes for People and Wildlife here
• Planning here
• Housing for Wildlife Examples of developments

Examples

Trumpington Meadows, Cambridgeshire is a meadow nature reserve that is part of a large housing development on the southern fringe of Cambridge

When the land was allocated for development, the local council required the provision of large green corridors to connect the centre of Cambridge through the new development to the countryside beyond.

Trumpington Meadows Land Company wanted to create a high-quality development and viewed a new country park as integral to this. The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire helped to design and create the development’s green spaces and now manage the country park.

Local play areas, swales and tree avenues are included throughout the development. The 58-hectare country park is designed to be both a space for people and a ‘nature reserve’. The creation of over 40 hectares of new species-rich meadows, hedgerows, woodlands and restored floodplain meadows began before the first houses were built to allow the landscaping and habitats time to mature. The country park sits beside the River Cam. The river habitat has been restored and the river re-connected with its floodplain meadows, reducing flood-risk downstream. A new pond with overflow area and open ditch features, slows rainwater runoff to the River Cam whilst providing additional habitat for wildlife.

Kidbrooke Village, London is a development making space for nature among 4,800 new homes. Kidbrooke Village is a visionary new housing development in London. It will provide more than 4,800 new homes and 35 hectares of varied, semi-natural open space for the people who will live in them.  The design is the result of a partnership between London Wildlife Trust and Berkeley Homes. The centre of the site is Kidbrooke Park, which will be designed to be a green corridor for people and wildlife - a natural area weaving between the new houses.

There will be play areas bordered by species-rich grassland, heather and copses of trees, a chalk stream meandering beside open lawns, and a reed-fringed wetland nestled between high-rise buildings. These green spaces will provide habitat for birds, bees and other wildlife, as well as helping with local flood mitigation and water management, and providing places for the local community to spend outside. These new habitats will also connect to a wider network of green infrastructure beyond the site.

The Wildlife Trusts   www.wildlifetrusts.org

There are 46 Wildlife Trusts covering the whole of the UK. All are working for an environment rich in wildlife for everyone. We have more than 800,000 members including 150,000 members of our junior branch, Wildlife Watch. Our vision is to create a Living Landscape and secure Living Seas. We care for around 2,300 nature reserves and every year we advise thousands of landowners and organisations on how to manage their land for wildlife. We also run marine conservation projects around the UK.