Biodiversity and the Environment

Biodiversity is the variety of life found in one place, including plants, animals, fungi and even micro-organisms in the soil.

The biodiversity of land which has been intensively farmed for many years can be surprisingly low: a report for the UK Parliament in April 2021 said: “The production of crops and livestock is a major driver of biodiversity loss.”

This is because much of our agriculture focuses on only one or two species – crops or livestock – and this drives out other species, greatly reducing biodiversity.

Biodiversity net gain is a new requirement for development projects, both large and small, and means that the biodiversity of an area should be better after the development has been completed than when it started.

Because the majority of the site for Hensford Park is agricultural land, there is a lot of potential to improve the biodiversity overall while still allowing space for homes and businesses and the infrastructure to support them.

The masterplan has been designed to retain key habitat features such as hedgerows, trees and areas of open fields that will enable the protection of key species, mitigation and habitat creation.

Masterplanning at this scale, rather than for a number of separate, smaller developments, can ensure that important natural spaces are allocated to form part of a nature network, linking with adjacent biodiverse sites to provide wildlife corridors.

An initial Biodiversity Net Gain assessment has been undertaken, which identifies potential for a net gain of 10.71% through habitat creation.

The potential for ecological enhancement includes the creation of species-rich grassland and a range of other habitats as well as the provision of bat, bird and invertebrate boxes throughout the site.

Langdon Fields County Wildlife Site is partly located within the Hensford Park site. The masterplan includes suitable alternative natural green space, known as SANGS, which would incorporate Langdon Fields, further enhancing its biodiversity potential.

There are also more than 2.5km of watercourses within the site boundaries which offer the potential to create additional wetland areas.

A drainage strategy would be prepared for any planning application which would ensure that there would be attenuation on site to reduce run-off compared with the existing levels. This would cut the downstream flood-risk.

The landscape network will also provide high quality circular routes which allows walkers, runners and dog-walkers to access green space without having to drive, as well as connecting to the wider network of paths and other routes.