Contact the Ecology Team

The ecology service protects the natural environment in the county, and provides specialist advice and guidance on ecology and biodiversity related matters.

Buckinghamshire is fortunate to have a rich and varied natural environment including:

• diverse wildlife habitats including chalk grassland, beech woodlands, wood-pasture and chalk river
• over 460 local wildlife sites (LWS) amounting to nearly 7,000 hectares of land
• over 100 legally protected species records
• around 200 species recognised as being a priority for conservation

As a Local Planning Authority, we're responsible for conserving wildlife and biodiversity, and we have local and national planning policies and associated government guidance to inform our decision making.

This now requires developments to achieve measurable net gain in biodiversity.

This requirement is in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and is now in the new local plan policy.

View our local plans for more information.

You can:

• receive pre-application advice from our ecology specialists
• find out if your development proposal may have an impact on biodiversity with our checklist
• learn more about the types of survey and reports that may be required to inform your planning application

Email: [email protected]