Comment
Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options
Representation ID: 56821
Received: 07/12/2021
Respondent: Mr John Meed
The commitment to 20% BNG is excellent. However, I have three concerns: baseline survey work will need to be sufficiently detailed and thorough to allow rigorous assessment both of potential and actual net gain or loss; ‘contributions towards off-site, larger scale projects’ may offer an easy opt out for landowners and developers; and the policy does not mention that 'scarce and protected species are likely to need separate consideration to the biodiversity metric'. The attached paper suggests ways of remedying these shortcomings.
The commitment to 20% BNG is excellent. However, I have three concerns: baseline survey work will need to be sufficiently detailed and thorough to allow rigorous assessment both of potential and actual net gain or loss; ‘contributions towards off-site, larger scale projects’ may offer an easy opt out for landowners and developers; and the policy does not mention that 'scarce and protected species are likely to need separate consideration to the biodiversity metric'. The attached paper suggests ways of remedying these shortcomings.