Biodiversity supplementary planning document for Northamptonshire

Biodiversity refers to the number, variety and variability of living organisms. It is a key aspect of sustainable development. Every local authority has a statutory duty to have regard to the purpose of conserving biodiversity under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

This duty is addressed in part by including nature conservation policies in the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy Local Plan (Part 1) (Adopted 2014) (WNJCS), the Central Area Action Plan (Adopted 2013 (CAAP) and those anticipated for inclusion in the developing Northampton Local Plan (Part 2). The SPD supplements these policies; it describes how biodiversity should be incorporated into the planning process to ensure that policy and legislative requirements are met and best practice standards are achieved. It provides a standard approach to be followed for all planning applications and is to be used together with expert ecological assessment of the details of each specific application.

The SPD has been jointly prepared by the constituent authorities of Northamptonshire and has been led by Northamptonshire County Council.  It has involved close working with the Wildlife Trust and Natural England. All Northamptonshire authorities have adopted the SPD or are considering it. It is being used to inform the development management process. It provides a material consideration where development proposals are refused should significant harm to an asset be identified and cannot be avoided, mitigated or compensated against.

You can find the SPD, the Consultation Statement, the Community Impact Assessment and the Adoption Statement below: