Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment
Biodiversity is vital to sustain the UK’s society and economy. CIEEM, CIRIA and IEMA have jointly published guidance on Biodiversity Net Gain for UK construction and developments. Improving biodiversity is integral to sustainable development, and biodiversity net gain is an approach to embed and demonstrate this which has been taken up and is now becoming a requirement as part of ecological appraisals for many development projects.
Section 175(c) of MHCLG (2018) states that: “Development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats (such as ancient woodland and ancient or veteran trees) should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons and a suitable compensation strategy exists
Following an Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey, CBE Consulting can use the information obtained to prepare a Biodiversity Impact Assessment calculation using either the DEFRA Metric calculation method or the similar biodiversity offset methodology developed by Warwickshire County Council.
Both methodologies are nationally accepted and provide a basis to calculate the existing biodiversity present within a parcel of land and then compare this to the potential biodiversity that will be created as part of development proposals within the same unit of land for comparison to determine net gain or net loss in terms of biodiversity.
The output will be a completed XLS spreadsheet with the calculation and a short PDF report with the site information and outcome of the assessment detailed.
