Top tips for submitting a planning application

Especially species protected by law, including badgers, bats, breeding birds, reptiles and amphibians. This should be done well before submitting a planning application to enable time for survey work, if needed - see what wildlife may live on your land.

This includes surveys for wildlife or habitats. This could result in the destruction of important habitats or killing / injuring of protected species. As well as the risk of a legal offence, it may result in delays for your application. If your application is subject to mandatory 10% biodiversity net gain (more on this below), the baseline must be calculated pre-clearance and this could lead to it being overvalued as a precautionary measure.

They will provide advice on what survey work is required. Here is a great guide to what to look for in an ecologist and the Professional Directory can be found here.  More information on ecological surveys including bat surveys and Permitted Development can also be found here.

Surveys for different species have to be undertaken at different times of year. Many ecological consultancies provide online calendars to show when certain ecological surveys can take place.  Alternatively, call Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and one of our planning officers can help. This can affect the timescale of your planning application and/or your planned works. Please note – all of your surveys should be completed before you submit your application or begin works (if planning not required).

This will be prepared by your ecologist, in line with current best practice. When Derbyshire Wildlife Trust reviews an application that is not supported by suitable ecological information, we request this in our response and this may delay the determination of your application.

There are two main reasons to incorporate habitat within your site:

1. Where surveys show that wildlife is already present, you should mitigate and then compensate for the proposed impacts. You should carefully plan your works to retain habitat in the first instance. For example, if your works will renovate a building that supports roosting bats, you should first aim to retain the roosts in situ. This may include retaining the loft space for bats or small crevices that are present in stonework. Where impacts cannot be avoided, replacement opportunities will be required, for example bat boxes, a new roof void or the addition of access slates in the roof. Where protected species are present, such mitigation and compensation is a legal requirement, and you will need a licence from Natural England before works can take place. In these cases, the involvement of an ecological consultant will be essential to support the application.
    
2. Where you would like to enhance a site for wildlife. Enhancement plans are usually secured as a standard condition for most planning applications, even where wildlife may not be adversely affected. The National Planning Policy Framework 2024 now includes a requirement for planning decisions to secure features for priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats and hedgehogs. Some local authorities also have their own local policies to safeguard protected and threatened species. There is also a British Standard for integral nest boxes to secure integral boxes in new builds as best practice.   

Enhancements should be tailored to each individual site and may include bat boxes, bird boxes, bee bricks, a pond or native tree planting for example. We have provided links below to give you some ideas on how to incorporate biodiversity into your build but there are lots of different websites available. We cannot recommend specific companies but these provide some ideas of what is available.  For small projects / applications, you can draw up your own plan without the involvement of an ecologist, however for larger developments it is advisable to involve an ecological consultant to ensure the most appropriate measures are chosen and that boxes are located correctly.

Since 12^th February 2024, all planning applications are required by law to demonstrate a 10 % net gain (excluding exemptions). Gains should be calculated using the statutory metric, as developed by DEFRA.  A separate Small Sites Metric is also available for sites meeting these criteria.  Copies of the metrics and User Guides can be found on the government website.   You must submit sufficient information with your application to provide the local authority with confidence that 10% gains can be achieved.  See our BNG page for more detail.