Assessing biodiversity within green infrastructure developments; a monitoring strategy for policy makers, practitioners and developers

Green infrastructure (GI) is recognised globally as an essential component of liveable and sustainable places. It is widely acknowledged that GI provides numerous societal benefits including conservation, health and well-being and economic growth. Despite this there is still considerable uncertainty amongst the multiple stakeholders of 'what good GI is' and how this can be incorporated into new developments. Until recently there was no overarching standard for GI, however the creation of 'Building with Nature' accreditation has created a national benchmark.

The Building with Nature benchmark was developed as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and the University of the West of England (funded by Innovate UK and NERC; Grant number 9887). The interest and uptake of the Building with Nature benchmark by developers has been rapid leading to the integration of GI initiatives within new developments nationwide from Cornwall to Central Scotland. Although Building with Nature highlights the necessity of post-construction monitoring to assess the efficacy of GI interventions for biodiversity, there is relatively little information contained within the guidance as to how this can be achieved. There is also no mechanism for capturing monitoring data which makes it impossible to combine data systematically using a meta-analytical approach to determine the most effective methods of enhancing biodiversity using GI. This NERC Innovation placement will therefore lead to the development of a post-construction monitoring strategy for Building with Nature accredited developments. This will generate useful quantitative data to enable the efficacy of GI interventions to be assessed, will allow local authorities and Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies to better determine if they are achieving their statutory obligations, justify the purpose and expense of monitoring to developers, and ensure that the most effective GI is integrated into future developments.

The issues to be addressed have all been proposed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and stakeholders involved in the Building with Nature accreditation process. The development of a monitoring strategy will provide: i) an evidence base to ensure that monitoring can be achieved cost effectively and is more than a 'box-ticking' exercise; ii) that surveying occurs over a sensible timeframe to ensure that biodiversity levels are accurately quantified; iii) a clear understanding of when remediation work is required to improve the efficacy of GI; and iv) a robust system to capture and analyse monitoring data to assess the relative success of a variety of GI interventions.

The outputs will include an evidence document on the most effective methods to monitor GI developments, endorsed by all the major stakeholders involved in the process including planners, policymakers and developers. A standardised surveying methodology for the Building with Nature benchmark which will act as a guide for ecological practitioners to quantify levels of biodiversity within housing developments and a data repository and statistical code designed to securely store and analyse monitoring records. In the longer term, the monitoring strategy could be integrated into Local Development Plans for all developments, not just those integrating GI, which would enhance the robustness and usefulness of post-monitoring surveys. The direct beneficiaries will be developers (e.g. housing developers), professional ecological consultants (service providers), local government ecologists and planning committees (decision makers), and Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (policy makers).