It has been five years since the publication of the Dasgupta Review, an independent report on the economics of biodiversity commissioned by the UK Treasury. This review confirmed that our livelihoods and our well-being depend on nature and that a failure to build an economy on this principle would endanger the prosperity of future generations. Most importantly, it urged the government to recognise the importance of biodiversity in future economic planning.
This is not controversial, just two days ago the UK Government published a report on biodiversity loss and national security, concluding that “biodiversity loss is putting at risk the ecosystem services on which human societies depend, including water, food, clean air and critical resources”.
We must grow the economy and look after the environment.
Thus, the District Licensing (DL) scheme run by NatureSpace is founded on the principle that nature recovery must go hand in hand with development. Its two core aims are to recover great crested newt populations through strategic habitat delivery and create a faster and more effective licensing process for developers and planners.
We launched District Licensing in 2018 and are delivering a tried-and-tested scheme that works. We have created or restored 500 clean water ponds in locations designed to expand great crested newt populations, entirely funded by developers who choose our scheme over alternative licensing options. Several foundational principles underpin the scheme to ensure it genuinely delivers for nature and development.
Firstly, our scheme is completely integrated with planning – the licence itself is held by the local planning authorities – meaning that licensing is provided alongside planning permission. Developers using the scheme have confirmed the ‘one-stop shop’ has provided increased certainty and timesaving, allowing them to get on site quicker.
Secondly, and in contrast to the national schemes currently being mooted, the scheme creates compensation habitat as close as possible to development impacts to support local nature recovery and maintain connected newt populations across landscapes. Keeping habitat delivery local supports ecological connectivity, protects local distinctiveness, and ensures that the people and places affected by development also share in the benefits of nature recovery.
Thirdly, District Licensing is regulated (by Natural England) under the Habitats Regulations and so embeds key environmental principles including individual assessment of development impacts that ensures costs are both precautionary and proportionate, that the mitigation hierarchy is respected, and that the polluter pays fairly with no cost to the taxpayer. Importantly, compensation delivery is always ahead of development impacts to ensure we are always in a place of habitat gain.
Finally, District Licensing has strong and accountable legal and financial underpinnings, ensuring the long-term legacy of the scheme’s environmental outcomes. Developer payments are immediately transferred to the Newt Conservation Partnership (NCP), an independent asset-locked and not-for-profit community benefit society whose sole purpose is to provide high quality habitat for great crested newts. The habitat management is delivered by landowners who are paid annually to manage the habitat for at least 25 years, with extensive monitoring of outcomes. There are legal agreements to ensure delivery happens and monies are ringfenced for this purpose – there can be no clawback by either public bodies or the private sector – providing secured outcomes and clear accountability.
Nature is not a blocker to development, and schemes such as District Licensing demonstrate how development can deliver nature recovery whilst enabling economic growth.
