In 2016, Cheshire Wildlife Trust ran a survey asking members what they felt the Trust should focus on. One priority raised was planning, but please don't leave it all to our small staff.
There are three levels of planning development. At national level, there is the National Policy Planning Framework, revised in 2018. The draft, put out for public consultation, did not include any protection for Local Wildlife Sites, the backbone of regional nature conservation. Many organisations and people made representations, and the final version reinstated protection for LWS, along with better protection for ancient woodland and ancient trees. If enough people shout, things can be changed!
The second level is the "Local Plan", so-called even when it applies to an area as big as Cheshire East. These are drawn up by local authorities, with a series of stages and public consultations. In Wirral we are still going through this process, after years of disagreement about how many houses Wirral really needs. High estimates for numbers needed led last autumn to a Green Belt Review over releasing land for building. No-one likes losing Green Belt land, so this has generated much heat and confusion. Green Belt is not a nature conservation designation, but in Wirral, with 46% land already built up, the green areas hold much of our remaining wildlife. Impacts would be felt even by protected sites such as Dibbinsdale SSSI and LWS (eg Prenton Dell, Harrock Wood). Wirral Wildlife has done its own planning comments for 44 years, since Wirral Borough was separated from Cheshire. So we put together a 35-page document, commenting on every parcel of land, about its value (or otherwise) for wildlife conservation, wildlife corridors, flood control, air quality, food production, and its value for people to experience wildlife. We await the next stage, when the planning officers and councillors have managed to digest the 3000+ submissions (they have our sympathy). Because we have a long record of considered, evidenced comments on planning matters, we do know our document will be taken seriously. (Those of you in other areas whose Local Plans are decided or nearly so, do not relax too much - they are subject to 5-yearly review!)
The third level of planning is development control, decisions on applications to build, made using the Local Plan, NPPF, and other "material considerations". Wirral Wildlife rarely needs to object outright, but we often ask for further surveys e.g. bats, and for conditions on the planning permission e.g. to protect trees or wildlife. Our standard badger conditions include "no hole to be left open overnight without a means of escape provided". Some years ago a builder turned up one morning to find a very irate badger in his foundations, which took much time and several skilled people to release.
You can help in 3 main ways:
1) You know your local area best, including where the wildlife is. So keep an eye on your local development control applications, through the press, websites and word of mouth. Write to comment or object, or alert CWT staff to do so.
2) Keep an eye on Local Plan and other consultations. Sometimes CWT will ask for people to write in on such matters; please do so. It may feel like a waste of time, but the ultimate decisions are made by politicians - and they depend on our votes.
3) When development is permitted in your area, look up the conditions on the local authority website, and check to see if they are observed e.g. have the retained trees been protected by fencing? In Wirral we have a good success rate of getting the conditions we want, but Enforcement is our next big challenge.
Hilary Ash,
Hon Conservation Officer
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