Ecological Asset Desktop Assessment of Local Plan Sites
Desktop assessment was undertaken of sites being considered for allocation for in Burnley’s Local Plan summarising the ecological information held by the Lancashire Environment Record Network (LERN). Its purpose was help the local planning authority in selecting sites for allocation and fulfill its requirements in respect of relevant legislation and national policy.
These ecological assets include records of designated sites, protected and priority species, and other environmental assets of significance.
The reports detail the information sources checked and whether they are relevant to individual sites. The information provided was purely factual and contained no opinions as to the merits or desirability of the allocation of particular sites.
The Desktop Assessment incorporates information obtained from previous survey work which is held by LERN.
The initial Assessment was completed in 2015 and the December 2016 Supplement includes those sites considered for allocation which had not been included in the 2015 assessment.
Species Surveys
To support the emerging Local Plan, ‘walk over’ species surveys of sites being considered for alloctaion in the Plan were undertaken.
Further surveys of 6 sites proposed for housing alloctation, specifically to look at the sites’ potential to support Golden Plover were completed in 2017.
Earlier Habitat Survey 2007
Under instruction from Burnley Borough Council, Golder Associates (UK) undertook a survey of all sites of known or potential nature conservation value within the borough. This took the form of a Phase 1 Habitat Survey that followed the standard methodology set out by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC, 2004). This survey is described as the ‘Burnley Wildlife and Habitat Survey’.
