Natural England is hosting a survey to understand the availability of data held within local authorities (LAs) on habitat created or enhanced as a requirement of planning permissions and to identify the benefits of collating this information nationally.
image: for illustration only – Open Government Licence v3.0
… seeking to map areas of habitat established or enhanced as a requirement of planning permissions…
Natural England writes:
Mapping of wildlife habitats created and enhanced through the planning system is increasingly important in monitoring implementation of biodiversity targets, net gain and the delivery of wider nature recovery initiatives.
Natural England is seeking to map areas of habitat established or enhanced as a requirement of planning permissions and other national schemes. Eunomia Ltd has been appointed to liaise with local councils and we are seeking information from authorities on the following issues:
- do you collate information on habitats created or enhanced due planning conditions or do you plan to do so with the introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) or other development conditions (e.g., SANGS, SUDS, sites set aside for Nutrient Neutrality)?
- if so what formats is the information in and is the information accessible?
- are there legal and copyright constraints experienced in making information publicly accessible?
- do you verify that habitat secured through planning commitments?
Currently, planning permission data (plans, maps and applications) that are publicly available on the planning portals, are subject to copyright and may only be accessed for particular purposes. This issue may also affect the forthcoming BNG planning documentation submitted to local authorities by developers.
As recipients of information relating to individual planning permissions, Local Planning Authorities are key partners in helping to overcome some of the restrictions that exist in trying to collate habitat creation information at a national level. LPAs would obviously benefit from the collation of such data for monitoring and reporting purposes, as well in avoiding double-counting or allocation for other uses of compensation and mitigation schemes.
The benefits of collating habitat creation data nationally and locally include: i) the provision of a baseline against which future biodiversity gain can be considered, ii) as an input to Local Nature Recovery Strategies iii) as an input to Biodiversity Reporting for LPA corporate plans and strategies and under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act and iv) helping with compliance monitoring and thus ensuring planning commitments are delivered.
We would be grateful if you could respond to this short online questionnaire, it will take c. 8 minutes to complete. Please enter contact information if you are happy for us to contact you for further discussion of your response.
For further information please contact Chris Hill cth@geodata.soton.ac.uk
Thank you for your response!
See the survey at Read more and access the survey
