This document discusses biodiversity and land remediation. It begins by defining biodiversity and listing various protected species. It then discusses policies and frameworks related to enhancing biodiversity and remediating contaminated land from documents like the NPPF, Environment Act 2021, and reports from the House of Lords. Key points addressed include biodiversity net gain, habitat assessments, balancing development with environmental protection, and ensuring adequate resources for regulatory bodies.

1. Seamus Lefroy-Brooks
Environmentalist/Geologist/Engineer
BSc(hons) CEnv MIEnvSc MSc CGeol FGS CEng MICE FRGS SiLC NQMS SQP DoWCoP QP
RoGEP UK Registered Ground Engineering Adviser
Land remediation and conservation

2. Biodiversity:
All living organisms.
• Animals
• Insects
• Plants
• Bacteria
• Fungi
Land remediation and conservation

3. – Bats
– Beavers
– Newts
– Otters
– Toads
– Reptiles
– Dormice
– Plants
– Trees
– Butterflies
– Sturgeon
– Badgers
– Water Voles
– Wild birds
– Freshwater
Crayfish
– Freshwater mussels
Land remediation and conservation
Protected Species

4. Land remediation and conservation

5. Land remediation and conservation

6. Pond Copse
– How to conserve it?
– How did it get there?
– How does it work?
– Ecological surveys
– BNG
– Drainage
Land remediation and conservation

7. Land remediation and conservation

8. Land remediation and conservation

9. ODPM Circular 06/2005
Biodiversity and geological conservation –
statutory obligations and their impact
within the planning system
Land remediation and conservation

10. National Planning Policy Framework
(NPPF)
– Para 174: Planning policies and decisions
should contribute to and enhance the natural
and local environment
Land remediation and conservation

11. NPPF Para 174
– protecting and enhancing sites of biodiversity
value and soils
– minimising impacts on biodiversity
– establishing coherent and resilient ecological
networks
– remediating and mitigating despoiled,
degraded, derelict, contaminated and
unstable land
Land remediation and conservation

12. NPPF Para 174
– Despoiled ?quarried
– Degraded ?value
– Derelict ?disused
– Contaminated ? How much
– Unstable ? slopes/subsidence
– Where appropriate
Land remediation and conservation

13. NPPF Para 174
Preventing new and existing development from
contributing to, being put at unacceptable risk
from, or being adversely affected by,
unacceptable levels of soil, air, water or noise
pollution or land instability.
Land remediation and conservation

14. NPPF Para 180
– Avoid or mitigate significant harm to
biodiversity or, as a last resort, compensate
for the harm
Land remediation and conservation

15. NPPF Para 183
– Assessment of site remediation to take
account of any potential impacts on the
natural environment arising from that
remediation.
Land remediation and conservation

16. NPPF Para 185
– Consider impacts of site remediation on the
natural environment
Land remediation and conservation

17. GOV.UK
Key issues in implementing policy to
protect and enhance the natural
environment, including local
requirements.
Paragraph: 009 Reference ID: 8-009-20190721 Revision date: 21 07 2019
Is there a statutory basis for seeking to conserve and
enhance biodiversity?
– Designated Sites
– Protected Species
Land remediation and conservation

18. GOV.UK
Guiding principles on how planning can deal
with land affected by contamination
Paragraph: 009 Reference ID: 33-009-20190722 Revision date: 22 07 2019
Should planning permission be refused if there are concerns
about land contamination?
Local planning authorities should work with applicants to
find acceptable ways forward if there are concerns about
land contamination. For example, establishing or retaining
areas of green infrastructure may serve to limit harmful
disturbance of the ground.
Land remediation and conservation

19. GOV.UK
Key issues in implementing policy to protect and
enhance the natural environment, including local
requirements.
Paragraph: Paragraph: 003 Reference ID: 8-003-20190721 Revision date: 21 07 2019
How can brownfield land of high environmental value be taken into
account?
Some previously developed or ‘brownfield’ land is of high
environmental value, providing habitats for protected or priority
species and other environmental and amenity benefits.
When determining a planning application, the biodiversity or
geodiversity value of the land and its environmental sensitivity will
need to be taken into account so that any harm can be avoided,
mitigated or compensated for in a way which is appropriate given
the site’s identified value.
Land remediation and conservation

20. 2019 Habitats Regulations
(1979 EU Birds Directive. 1992 EU Habitats Directive)
– Habitats sites
– Designated Sites
• Local Nature Reserve (LNR)
• National Nature Reserve (NNR)
• Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ)
• Special Protection Areas (SPA)
• Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
• Ramsar site
• Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
Land remediation and conservation

21. 2019 Habitats Regulations
– Statutory Requirements
– Natural England Statutory Consultee
– “no strict hierarchy” in taking planning decisions
between the various priorities for development—
ecological assessments must feed into a decision
maker’s process but do not dictate an outcome.
– a decision can be challenged at judicial review
and be found unsound.
Land remediation and conservation

22. 2019 Habitats Regulations
– ‘imperative reasons of overriding public interest’
– To overcome the statutory weight of
environmental protection requires significant
expertise
Land remediation and conservation

23. Environment Act 2021
– Planning permissions to deliver at least 10%
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)
– Biodiversity Metric
– Duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity
– Office for Environmental Protection
– Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS)
Land remediation and conservation

24. Land remediation and conservation
Office for Environmental
Protection (OEP)
Protect and improve the environment by
holding government and other public
authorities to account.

25. Local Nature Recovery Strategies
(LNRS)
A statutory strategy to identify locations to
improve nature and provide other
environmental benefits
Land remediation and conservation

26. Biodiversity Net Gain:
Leave natural environment in a
measurably better state
Land remediation and conservation

27. Biodiversity Net Gain
– prescribed biodiversity metric
– 30-year monitoring
– mitigation hierarchy
1. avoid
2. minimise
3. mitigate
4. Offset on site
5. Offset off site
Land remediation and conservation

28. Biodiversity Metric
UKHab
– Habitat classification system
– Primary habitat hierarchy
– Secondary Codes
Land remediation and conservation

29. 2023 Environmental Principles
Policy Statement
– The integration principle
– The prevention principle
– The precautionary principle
– Rectification at source
– The polluter pays
Land remediation and conservation

30. 2023 Environmental Principles
Policy Statement
– Rectification at source
• “environmental damage should, as a priority, be
addressed at its origin to avoid the need to
remedy its effects later”.
Land remediation and conservation

31. 2023 Environmental Principles
Policy Statement
– The polluter pays
• the costs of pollution should be borne by those
causing it, rather than the person who suffers … or
the wider community.”
Land remediation and conservation

32. Building with Nature
– 3rd Party Accreditation
– green infrastructure benchmark
– Building with Nature Standards
guidance on delivering green infrastructure.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and the University of
the West of England
Land remediation and conservation

33. Building with Nature
Core Standards
1 Multifunctionality and Connectivity
2 Climate Change
3 Environmental Net Gain
4 Contextual Approach
5 Distinctive Places
6 Place-keeping
Land remediation and conservation

34. Building with Nature
Environmental Net Gain
• Air
• Water
• Soil Quality
Land remediation and conservation

35. Land remediation and conservation

36. Co-ordination of Policies
“lack of co-ordination in policy-making and
haphazard and unbalanced implementation”
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

37. The polluter pays
Balancing the social, environmental and economic
benefits and costs of development is a difficult task
requiring expertise, evidence, ability and genuine
willingness to effect change
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

38. Environment Agency
An executive non-departmental public body,
sponsored by the Department for Environment,
Food & Rural Affairs. When relevant, it is a statutory
consultee in the planning process.
to create better places for people and wildlife,
and support sustainable development.
Land remediation and conservation

39. Natural England
An executive non-departmental public body,
sponsored by the Department for Environment,
Food & Rural Affairs. When relevant, it is a statutory
consultee in the planning process.
to advise government on the natural environment
in England.
Land remediation and conservation

40. Planning boundaries
By focusing on the land within a red line boundary to
undertake assessments, developers may not identify
relevant species or habitats in nearby nature sites
which are important to the local community and give
rise to subsequent objections.
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

41. Statutory biodiversity net gain goals
“having a perverse effect on the viability of building
on derelict brownfield land”
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

42. BNG “putting developers off brownfield
sites”
“If the same BNG metric applies to greenfield and
brownfield sites, there is no incentive to fund
remediation: a developer risks making a substantial
financial outlay to remediate a site only to result in
potentially significant negative BNG with further
investment then being required on mitigation. ”
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

43. BNG “putting developers off brownfield sites”
The Minister for Natural Environment and Land Use agreed that
where remediation involved removing contaminated soil that was
beneficial to wildlife it would have a negative impact on BNG.
Local planning authorities should be able to moderate biodiversity
net gain requirements for sites on their brownfield registers?
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

44. Balancing the social, environmental
and economic benefits
“local planning authorities are attempting to balance
decisions between unequally
weighted principles”
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

45. Land remediation and conservation

46. Public Sector Resources
Lack of resources risks poorer outcomes for the
environment owing to an inability of decision makers
to apply environmental regulations and provide
advice.
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

47. Public Sector Resources
funding shortfall for planning application services
“estimated to be in the region of £225 million
annually”.
Land remediation and conservation
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023

48. Public Sector Resources
The Environment Agency and Natural England should
support the formalisation of a role for those experts who
are part of the Nationally Quality Mark Scheme.
They should explore using this resource to provide
independent reviews of relevant environmental assessments,
funded by the developer, where the capacity is unavailable
internally.
House of Lords Select Committee Sep 2023
Land remediation and conservation

49. 1994 High Speed 1
10 documents
900 pages
2013 High Speed 2
536 documents
39,610 pages
Land remediation and conservation
Environmental Statements

50. – Ease of understanding
– Readable Format
– Standard Format / Templates
– Non-Technical Summary
Land remediation and conservation
Reports

51. – Communicate
• the need for conservation
• the value of soil
• Sustainability
• Carbon costs
– Call out inconsideration
– Everyone has a responsibility
Land remediation and conservation
Wish List