Paul Brown, Fera Science
A service to measure, monitor and assess biodiversity for housing developers in England – LAND360 – has been launched by Fera Science.
LAND360 is claimed to be an established, science-based land-assessment service, delivered by a multi-disciplinary team of ecologists, economists, GIS and remote sensing experts, that helps businesses assess biodiversity and natural capital and already has a proven track record of delivering detailed biodiversity assessments in the agricultural and land management sector.
This tailored version is designed to support developers, at a strategic land stage, in their efforts to enhance nature on their sites and understand if potential sites can support on site BNG or whether off site offsetting would be required.
BNG is a way of measuring, monitoring, and mitigating the impact of a development on biodiversity. From November 2023, it will be mandatory in England for new developments agreed under the Town & Country Planning Act. This will require housing developers to calculate the level of biodiversity on a site before work begins, and then ensure that the new development results in a net gain in biodiversity of at least 10%.
