“What is Land for?; - The Big Brownfield Biodiversity Botch”

Government policy is forcing development onto Brownfield sites that are of high importance to rare and endangered species. This creates conflicts between biodiversity, conservation and the planning system.

Government policy is forcing an unprecedented level of development onto Brownfield land as this is perceived to be much more acceptable to the public than building on greenfields. But it has become increasingly obvious that the current definition of Brownfield (previously developed land) includes a great many sites that are of high importance to rare and endangered species, while many ‘greenfields’ are just ploughed fields, barren of life.
Recent work by Buglife has shown over half of brownfield land in the Thames Gateway is likely to be of high importance to biodiversity, but at current rates of development it will all be lost in 20 years.
The combination of a new BAP priority habitat (Open Mosaic Habitats on Previously Developed Land) and rare BAP priority species on sites that are otherwise prioritised for development creates a unique biodiversity conservation dilemma that enables us to explore how biodiversity conservation and the planning system are, and should be, working, as well as our perceptions of what wildlife needs and the how this compares to what wildlife really needs.

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