ECO-WATCH: WHAT DEVELOPERS NEED TO KNOW AND DO ABOUT WILDLIFE ON-SITE

From bats to badgers and nesting birds to newts; there are a whole host of protected species (26,427, in fact!)* that can delay development plans, should they not be identified and rehomed properly.

Turning a blind eye to the presence of Great Crested Newts on a piece of land earmarked for development, for example, can not only see you slapped with a £5,000 fine PER NEWT, but could even see you facing time behind bars, and one of our own clients recently lamented that the cost of rehousing badgers wasn’t far removed from buying a family home with Sky TV…

All in all, determining the presence of wildlife on development land is not something to be dismissed, and happily, we’re here to help. Since there are very clear activity windows throughout the year to conduct surveys and give advice, we’ve whipped up this at-a-glance eco calendar to give clients a heads-up on what they need to be aware of and taking account of in the coming months.

Missing your window could cause costly delays, so it’s well worth taking a quick look and picking up the phone to see just what needs to be done to ensure any sites being submitted for planning permission are given the all clear.

Call our team on 0121 455 9455 to seek advice or book a ecology survey.

*according to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee taxon list, to include red list data inverts and rare bryophytes.