In a recent article in Environment Industry Magazine1 John Newton, Managing Director of the Ecology Consultancy, spelled out the importance for developers to update themselves with changes to wildlife legislation.
“To quote Eddie Izzard, ‘do earwigs make chutney?’ ” he said, “ Bees do make honey, but if badgers brewed beer would we take more care of them? Of course, this is a light-hearted way to show that wildlife plays an important part in keeping humans alive. In terms of building and development, if it goes wrong for wildlife, it can go wrong for you and cost dearly”.
John Newton went on to warn that project managers need to take an interest in wildlife because if they don’t, they may fall foul of the wildlife legislation that protects wildlife on land they may be developing or managing. The consequences can be a heavy fine or even a prison sentence, but at the very least, delay to the project.
The new edition of Working with Wildlife, authored by John Newton and colleagues from The Ecology Consultancy, is a comprehensive guide for the construction industry and is available from www.ciria.org
1.Environment Industry Magazine Issue 17 http://issuu.com/enviromedia/docs/eimissue17
