Green Business

The aim of the project is to enable business and development in NPT and to encourage innovative green business through appropriate use and improvement of our natural heritage. It is intended that this project will deliver an innovative project that will aim to inform best practice nationally in relation to providing a strategic approach to biodiversity compensation. This will aim to enable business and development and therefore investment in NPT through reducing the burden on investors whilst developing a new green business approach that would deliver benefits for both the natural heritage of NPT and local rural residents and landowners throughout the county borough. 

The project will: 

• encourage local landowners and communities to diversify their land uses and current business uses to develop a new green business of providing new areas of biodiversity habitat to offset losses to developments 
• develop a strategic approach to locating appropriate locations for such provisions that will continue to support and improve our natural heritage and provide better value compensation both in respect of development investment and ecological functioning 
• encourage and promote the improvement and development of more natural open green space areas, where the natural heritage can be enjoyed by residents 
• set out specifications for on the ground habitat creation/restoration or improvement 
• work towards demonstrating the approach that may develop into best practice Further Detail: 

The first step will be to develop a strategy utilising available data; including: existing records, habitat mapping; Neath Port Talbot connectivity mapping and Wales Ecosystems Groups Priority habitat mapping; along with data from the NPT accessible natural greenspace toolkit assessment. The strategy will look at identifying and targeting areas for habitat improvement, creation, restoration at a local scale. This will particularly focus upon habitats or habitats supporting species that are commonly encountering a problem in relation to development. 

In Neath Port Talbot Reptiles are a key constraint to development and will therefore be the first to be considered as part of the strategy. The provision of habitats suitable for reptiles will also deliver in respect of priority habitats; such as wetlands, hedges, heathland. The project will develop a pilot approach in relation to targeting locations for reptile habitat compensation that will then be expanded upon to cover other species and habitat types. It is considered likely that many areas will be able to deliver for multiple S42/LBAP species and habitats. 

The strategy will target areas for habitat creation, restoration and improvement. Landowners will be approached and with landowner agreement it is intended to set out habitat work specifications to develop a number of pilot sites to enable them to be ready to provide a mitigation or compensation option for developers. These specifications can then be used to take forwards practical on the ground works in the future. The project would be delivered through funding a specialist contractor. Once set up the strategic approach will be applied and offered alongside the planning process and is intended to be self-sustaining in relation to funding for maintenance and new sites via S106 agreements. The project will fit with the principles being set out in the emerging NPT LDP and the Local Biodiversity Action Plan. 

BioCompProject-FeasibilityFinalReport2017_1.pdf

[.PDF, 8.93 MB]