Planning for Wildlife
Luke Bristow Wildlife Sites Officer, Abbotts Hall Farm, Gt. Wigborough,
Colchester, Essex C05 7RZ.
There are approximately 35,000 non-statutory designated wildlife sites in the national
network, and government guidance acknowledges that they:
" ...provide wildlife refuges for most of the UK's fauna and flora..."
However, despite their recognised importance, sites arc continually placed under threat
from development, with the gradual but unceasing erosion of the wider network. The
rate of loss has slowed in recent years as biodiversity has crept up the political agenda,
but with Essex the focus of national and regional development growth in the Thames
and Haven Gateways as well as around Stanstead airport, the number of planning
applications upon Local Wildlife Sites (LoWS) shows signs of increasing once more.
In Essex, defending the LoWS network has largely fallen upon Essex Wildlife Trust,
with local support from concerned individuals. As the sites have no legal protection the
government's own nature conservation agency, Natural England, has tended not to
comment on development proposals in relation to these sites unless protected species
are present. Furthermore, local authorities often do not have the expertise within their
planning departments to adequately assess the impacts on biodiversity posed by
development schemes.
To address this situation, Essex Wildlife Trust has, for a number of years, employed a
Conservation Officer who monitors planning applications and acts as a non-statutory
consultee to ensure developers and local authorities adhere to national legislation and
policy. Sadly this is not always the case, with developers and local planning authorities
often barely managing to meet their legal obligation under UK and European wildlife
law. As a result, there are very few examples of 'best practice' where biodiversity has
been fully restored or enhanced as part of a completed development.
This is illustrated by the Royal Mail's proposed development at West Thurrock Lagoons.
The proposal, which has been approved by the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development
Corporation (TTGDC), is to build warehousing on a LoWS acknowledged as the 2nd
best invertebrate site in the UK after Dungeness. For example, it is recognized as a key
site nationally for species such as Brown-banded Carder Bee Bombus humilis, Five-
banded Digger Wasp Cerceris quinquefasciata, and Saltmarsh Shortspur Beetle
Anisodactylus poeciloides.
Mitigation for the significant overall loss of biodiversity: an overall 40% reduction in
the extent of the Local Wildlife Site partly comprises a proposal to re-wet an adjoining
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 52, January 2007 15