Date published: 2024-07-19 | Category: Delivering for local residents, Local Plan, Planning, Tackling the climate and ecological emergency
A group of volunteers is transforming former grazing land in Charlcombe Valley into a new community run wildlife site, including a species-rich meadow, following the introduction of a planning policy that requires developers to include biodiversity enhancements as part of their plans.
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Local Plan Partial Update (LPPU), adopted in January 2023, includes a Biodiversity Net Gain policy, in advance of it becoming a national requirement, which requires developers to deliver a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) of at least 10 per cent when building new housing or properties.
This means that developers must replace any biodiversity lost during the building, plus an additional 10 per cent, by creating new habitats such as grassland, woodland, hedgerows or tree lines and manage the habitat for at least 30 years. BNG can be delivered on-site as part of the development, off-site by creating new habitats and paying someone else to manage it or enhancing existing landscapes by purchasing biodiversity units. The result will be that after a development there will be more habitats and a wider variety of species than before a development, creating the right environment for nature to thrive on land protected and managed for those habitats and species.
The site in Charlcombe is one of several local habitats that are available to small developers to offset biodiversity losses that may occur during the development of a site. It is owned by Bath & North East Somerset Council and the recently formed Friends of Charlcombe Community Nature Reserve is working with the council’s Green Infrastructure & Nature Recovery team to improve the site for wildlife and enhance access so that local people can get closer to nature.
The site consists of two fields: the Upper West field was traditionally a hay meadow and has recently been cut for the first time in 10 years by the Parks team, whereas work in the East field will focus on clearing the brambles and scrub.
Mike Collins, Chair of the Friends of Charlcombe Community Nature Reserve, said: “Within our lifetime so much has changed in the natural world. The UK is now one of the most nature depleted countries on the planet and many species that we once took for granted are in trouble.
“That is why a group of local residents has come together to help set up The Friends of Charlcombe Community Nature Reserve. It has been brilliant that Bath & North East Somerset Council has been so open to the idea of a long-term partnership to manage the site. In our first year we want to find out more about the wildlife on the site through a combination of citizen science and ecological surveys.”
Biodiversity value is measured in standardised biodiversity units and a habitat will contain a number of biodiversity units, depending on its size, location, quality and type. Since Bath & North East Somerset Council introduced the policy, an additional 73 units, the equivalent of 27 hectares of grassland, have been agreed to be created or restored - 46% of those off-site, and 33 units of hedgerow, 29% of which were secured off-site.
The 6.5-hectare Charlcombe site, the size of eight football pitches, is one of several council-owned local habitats that are available to small developers to offset biodiversity losses off-site and the sale of 0.6 biodiversity units has enabled restoration work on the degraded habitat to start.
Weston Village Green and Weston Park have also been improved with BNG enhancements including additional hedgerow planting and improvement, linked to the construction of the Keynsham Recycling Hub.
Councillor Sarah Warren, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency and Sustainable Travel, said: “It is wonderful to see the friends group helping to restore our natural environment and making a difference to their community. By offering a defined and systematic way for new development to make a measurable contribution to nature recovery, Biodiversity Net Gain is part of the solution to achieving a nature positive Bath and North East Somerset by 2030.”
The council’s BNG Pathfinder Project has been developed to support the BNG process by identifying council-owned land where habitats can be created or improved to provide off-site BNG units that could be used by developers or for council development projects.
Councillor Mathew McCabe, Cabinet Member for Built Environment and Sustainable Development, said: “We were ahead of national legislation when we introduced BNG requirement in our LPPU and the council has received local, regional and national recognition for this. In the 14 months since it was implemented, we have delivered measurable net gains for diversity and a policy option for major development to deliver a 20% BNG has recently been consulted on as part of the Local Plan Options Consultation.
“Our focus is on ensuring that we have a supply of land that can provide biodiversity units locally to ensure that any proposed development proceeds without delay and wherever possible delivers benefits for our communities. The council’s BNG Pathfinder project could be critical in supporting that process and ensuring that we can maximise the benefits for nature recovery and public health locally.”
The mandatory requirement for 10% BNG came into effect from 12 February 2024.
You can find out more about Biodiversity Net Gain on the council website.
The Friends of Charlcombe Community Nature Reserve Facebook group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/charlcombenature
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