With new housing building continuing to rise in the UK, a set of guidelines have been produced to show how development can reverse decades of wildlife and habitat decline.
The Wildlife Trusts has drawn up the report because it believes that the natural environment must be put at the heart of planning to encourage developers to embrace the idea of greener and more inspirational homes.
It suggests that the emphasis should be on where and how homes are built, and not just on numbers and says that it is possible to have the homes needed without giving up on nature.
‘A huge challenge lies ahead as thousands of new houses are to be built yet we need to restore the natural world. We’re calling on the Government and local authorities to build beautiful, nature friendly communities in the right places,’ said Rachel Hackett, living landscapes development manager for The Wildlife Trusts.
‘Over the past century we have lost natural habitats on an unprecedented scale. Yet nature has its own innate value. It also makes us happy and we depend on the things that it gives us. Our new guidelines show that it’s possible to have both, so people can enjoy birdsong, reap the benefits of raingardens which soak up floodwater, and plants that bees and other pollinators need to survive,’ she explained.
‘With good design the costs of doing this are a tiny proportion of the overall cost of a housing development, but represent a big investment for the future. We should prioritise places for new housing that are already well served by infrastructure. We should avoid destroying wildlife sites and locate new houses in places where they can help to restore the landscape and aid natural recovery,’ she added.
The report explains how it is possible to create nature friendly housing by planting wildlife rich community green spaces, walkways, gardens, verges, roofs, wetlands and other natural features, all of which improve people’s health and quality of life too.
The Wildlife Trusts’ blueprint for new nature friendly homes highlights the social, environmental and economic benefits of this approach. These include better protection for wildlife sites, more space for wildlife, improved connectivity and buildings that are more wildlife friendly.
It points out that the approach can lead to daily contact with nature, improved health, protection against climate extremes, safer transport routes, healthier and happier communities, satisfied customers, market value and improved environmental rankings.
The report contains examples of where the Wildlife Trusts has worked with developers, Cambourne in Cambridgeshire and Woodberry Wetlands in London. Expert advice meant that at all stages of planning and construction ensured that existing meadows, wetlands, hedgerows, trees and woods were retained.
Wildlife rich gardens, verges, amenity green space, cycle paths and walkways were created, resulting in natural corridors weaving through the development and reaching out beyond. The results helped to reduce surface water flooding and improve air quality.
The report lists some simple and cost effective ideas that an improve wildlife such as building permeable driveways to reduce flood risk, creating wildflower verges alongside roads, designing lighting to avoid disturbing wildlife, providing bird boxes and bat roosts as part of a building’s design, include renewable energy and water efficiency features from the start, include wildlife friendly green walls and roofs, and including space for allotments and community orchards.
‘Developments don’t have to squeeze out wildlife. The benefits are clear: trees in urban areas improve the view, aid privacy, provide shade and help reduce pollution and flash flooding, community green spaces bring people together and local parks and woods are valuable places for people to walk, play and unwind in,’ the report says.
‘Built in the right way, in the right place, new housing developments can make a positive contribution to nature and to the health and wellbeing of people who live there,’ it adds.
