Biodiversity offsetting aims to achieve ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity, through conservation activities that compensate for the loss of habitat where it cannot be avoided within a development.
Four of our ecologists were out in force this week, representing The Ecology Consultancy at a conference on the ‘theory and practice of biodiversity offsetting’ organised by the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.
In September 2013, Defra produced a green paper which set out government proposals for an offsetting scheme in England. The consultation ran parallel to a series of pilot projects that were set up to develop an offsetting methodology. The scheme proposed by Defra will use a metric to calculate the number of ‘biodiversity credits’ a site has before and after development. The difference in credits will set the level of compensation that a development is likely to require.
Over the past year, The Ecology Consultancy has undertaken a large biodiversity offsetting pilot project following the Defra guidance. Our knowledge of the Defra offsetting method and our experience of mitigating for a diverse range of projects enables us to identify appropriate habitat compensation that complements the wider ecological network.
Proponents of biodiversity offsetting see it as a valuable tool to support sustainable development. It has the potential to provide a transparent framework that gives confidence to developers during the design stage of their projects and can ensure no net loss, or even a net gain to biodiversity. Pilot schemes using an offsetting approach to development shared their experience at the conference representing local planning authorities and large infrastructure projects, including HS2 and Thameslink.
Our Ecologist Matt Wainhouse said, “Overall, these pilot projects took a positive view towards using an offsetting metric, but all were able to suggest improvements to the methodology before Defra release their response to the consultation later this year. Debate was lively at the conference - several concerns were raised about the reality of using an offsetting scheme. The potential to circumvent the mitigation hierarchy appeared to present a main worry for many of the delegates, but supporters of offsetting were quick to point out that it will support the existing protections, not replace them, and reinforce the mitigation hierarchy by placing a minimum standard on the amount of compensation that should be provided. It seems clear that biodiversity offsetting has the potential to be a powerful planning tool that could benefit both development and UK nature conservation. It’s still early days for biodiversity offsetting in England, but it’s rapidly gaining traction. Biodiversity offsetting is here to stay”.
If you think The Ecology Consultancy’s experience in biodiversity offsetting for large projects could help your development, then please get in touch - we’ll be happy to guide you through this new frontier and show you how biodiversity offsetting could work for you.
