Overview
Planning policy directs planning authorities to expect developers to maintain and enhance biodiversity value wherever this is possible.
Our experience in habitat design, creation and management, and our knowledge of key species requirements, means we can offer clients a tailored approach according to budget and the design opportunities and constraints specific to individual sites.
Consultation and Policy Review
Identifying measures to maintain and enhance biodiversity through the development process is often key to addressing nature conservation consultee and third party concerns. Frequently local areas have specific policies or green infrastructure strategies which seek to shape how biodiversity is protected and maintained. These often provide the basis for the development of appropriate measures that are in line with local nature conservation priorities. BSG Ecology also has extensive experience in stakeholder meetings and consultation events through which measures proposed can be communicated and their likely effectiveness discussed.
Maximising Biodiversity Gain from Landscaping and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)
BSG Ecology staff work with design teams from concept stage to project completion. This allows effects on biodiversity to be avoided, and opportunities to be identified and maximised. BSG Ecology is able to advise on habitat creation and enhancement appropriate to the locality, as well as how value to biodiversity can be obtained from more formal planted areas. Invasive species such as Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam are common on development sites, and we are able to provide advice on the implications of the presence of these species.
We provide advice on the ecological design of features within sustainable drainage systems as part of our input to environmental impact assessments and masterplanning projects. Attenuation ponds and swales provide opportunities for an attractive resource for biodiversity and we are able to provide advice on methods to maximise the value of existing and new features.