Evidence, data and monitoring
Biodiversity and Ecology Surveys
Biodiversity is the variety of plants, animals (including humans), insects, fungi and micro-organisms and the habitats upon which they rely. It is important that biodiversity is protected, as without it the world's ecological systems and functions would breakdown, having detrimental consequences for all forms of life. Further information about Bradford's biodiversity is available on the website.
As part of the preparation of the new Local Plan the allocation of sites must be justified and supported by a robust and credible evidence base. Consideration needs to be given to the range of environmental constraints found in the District, this includes looking at the impact of new development on the District's biodiversity and ecological assets.
Where proposed new development sites are likely to have an impact, the significance of that impact needs to be assessed and a determination as to whether it can be reduced or mitigated needs to be made, in order to deliver sustainable development.
The Council has commissioned West Yorkshire Ecology Service to conduct a series of ecological 'walk over' and full surveys on a number of the proposed allocated sites in the draft Local Plan to identify whether there were any important habitats or species present.
The findings from this survey work will be published in due course and will be used to inform decisions on the allocation of development sites in the Local Plan.