Basic Ecological Survey

This article is intended to be an authoritative guide to Ecological Surveys and other, more general forms of field assessments for ecological receptors.

Competitive Ecological Surveys from Leading Ecologists

Both central government planning policy guidance documents that exclusively refer to “biodiversity and conservation” as a material consideration of your planning application—ODPM Circular 06/05 and PPS9—insist that any Protected Species and Habitat Surveys are undertaken pre determined, that is, up-front. In doing so, planning officers can ensure that you propose mitigation in your planning application for e.g. the loss of habitat for reptiles, or bats (or both!) This means that consultant ecologists can robustly defend any objections to your application, if there is any scope to object at all.

All about the theory…

The theory being, that if you have undertaken scientifically rigorous surveys, and used the results of such surveys to propose mitigation for any loss of habitat, and better, biodiversity enhancements—such a bird boxes, or native planting—then you have a secure and defensible application. The local planning authority officers will be satisfied that sufficient information has been submitted and so are markedly less likely to refuse your application, as well as confidently leaving matters of European protected species licensing to conditions of consent, should that be appropriate.

Turnaround inside of one week and from £399

A walkover ecological report is a very simple method of biological study which provides the reader with clear, concise information about the site of proposed development and any habitats and species that are legally protected, that may benefit from using it. It will summarise the habitats observed at the site, for example trees surveyed, and then comment about the value of this habitat, in terms of the likelihood of the development’s impact on protected species and habitat. (For more information about the protection for species, search for “Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981” or read our informative pages about legal protection for e.g. bats using the tabs at the top of this page.

“Surveys for European Protected Species and Habitats

The timing of walkover ecological surveys is largely irrelevant. They are best suited to small, un-complex sites where we don’t expect to find protected species in quantity. This has two main advantages. First, that the survey is cheap. We can organize these surveys from only £399. Second, the survey may only take a few hours on site and likewise in the office, hence the reason for the competitive pricing is because it represents around a day of our time in total, plus some traveling expenses (which are included in our costs.) We can have a report issued to you in under one week.

Getting timely input from an Ecologist for your application is key

Such ecological surveys can also form the basis of planning applications for larger schemes, where protected species surveys may be recommended in consequence, depending upon the findings of our survey. Alternatively, the report may inform and influence a landscape master plan for a very large site. The key take home points about ecological walkover surveys are that they are fast and relatively cheap, and that providing them up front with a planning application can avoid downstream costs and delays which are unplanned, as well as outright refusal from your local planning authority.

If you would like a quote for a walkover ecology report or habitat survey, please contact us on 08450 176950 today.