EVALUATION OF THE BIODIVERSITY OFFSETTING PILOT PHASE

The evaluation was of a dynamic and developing policy area and required close working with Defra, Natural England, the biodiversity offsetting pilots and other 'strategic stakeholders'

The evaluation was of a dynamic and developing policy area and required close working with Defra, Natural England, the biodiversity offsetting pilots and other 'strategic stakeholders'

CEP with the Institute of European Environmental Planning (IEEP) were commissioned by Defra (Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs) to undertake a two-year (2012-2014) evaluation of the six biodiversity offsetting pilots and complementary projects.

The evaluation considered how biodiversity offsetting can:

  • Help to use resources more effectively to deliver greater benefits for biodiversity.
  • Streamline the process of agreeing compensation for biodiversity loss as required by planning policy, in a cost effective way.

The project involved detailed qualitative research, with a diversity of partners and stakeholders, into the planning system and its current and potential consideration of biodiversity. The project also included research looking at the existing costs of biodiversity compensation within the English planning system (this informed the counterfactual for the evaluation) and a review of the German approach to biodiversity offsetting.

The final evaluation report and supplementary reports are published on Defra’s project webpage or contact Collingwood Environmental Planning’s Dr Bill Sheate (Technical Director) w.sheate@cep.co.uk