Massive building programme - please check your area!

[vole-woman]

It's just been announed that in Shropshire there's going to be a massive house-building push over the next few years. Round the market town where I live, lots of green spaces have been ear-marked for development, and the council are opening a time slot for public consulation.

You can be sure the wildlife groups will be checking the maps with a fine-tooth comb - I can already see half a dozen places for instance where the presence of water voles hasn't been taken into consideration, and I'm trying not to panic.

If this same programme is happening in your area - and I have a feeling it's nationwide - please take time to look at the sites that might be built on, because certainly my own council planning dept acts unlawfully where protected species are concerned.

I appreciate new homes have to go up, but we need to make sure they don't appear at the expense of vulnerable wildlife.

[Meta menardi]

If you have records, make sure they are lodged with your local Ecological Data Centre, this means they will be checked before anything is done. No guarantee that the site will be saved or protected, but at least it the records will be seen.

[vole-woman]

I'm not sure which sort of data centre you mean. Like the Wildlife Trust or the Mammal Recorder? Or is there somewhere else? I have masses of data to log!

[Meta menardi]

Biodiversity and ecology – Shropshire Council

After all the council will have to see all the planning stuff.

[vole-woman]

Thanks. Yes, the new biodiversity officers were my first port of call. They've been looking at another development near me that went ahead despite there being clear records of water voles on the site and us writing to the planning dept to remind them of the fact. No mitigation was asked for by the planning dept, and no attempt to make the area suitable for water voles even if they returned. There are no water voles there now as the place was pile-driven for months and the banks ruined. This is the second time to my knowledge water voles round here have been driven off by building developments. What I don't get is, is there a law, or not?

The web page says: Shropshire Council is working closely with Natural England and the Shropshire Wildlife Trust in the development of the Shropshire Ecological Data Network (SEDN). This is a network of wildlife experts who pool wildlife information for use by a wide range of organisations and individuals, including planning authorities. General enquiries or data requests should be made to the Shropshire Wildlife Trust.

Do you think that means 'Submit data to the WT'?

[Meta menardi]

That reply was a little short, I was using the portable and the battery was about done.

The greater part of the country is covered by a network of Local Records Centres, and their data is fed into the NBN gateway (National Biodiversity Network Gateway).

One of the jobs that the centres do is to provide reports to developers and so on who want to apply for planning and have to provide evidence that they have considered the impact on wildlife their development may cause. They also provide data to the likes of Natural England to help them reach decisions on things like the grant schemes. If the local data centre does not have your records, it may not be considered when these decisions are made.

[vole-woman]

Wow, thanks. I'll get on the case immediately.