Track & trackside
survey the development site during a later breeding season.
Adverse impacts avoided
A key part of the ecological assessment is accurately locating and mapping the habitats and species on site so adverse impacts on them can be successfully avoided or reduced. This happens at all stages during the project from receiving the site boundary and base mapping from Network Rail, through collating information for the desk study and onsite data collection, to drawing up the proposed mitigation and landscaping plans.
Thomson Ecology has an award- winning team who work with the project team to use the latest technology and in-field devices to achieve this. Our ecologists have mobile mappers which are pre-loaded with all available site information and can record data to sub-metre accuracy. This information can then be uploaded via the mobile phone network to our secure server to provide live updates which can be seen by the project team via our interactive mapping website. The immediacy of this solution has tremendous advantages, allowing decisions to be made quickly and efficiently making use of the most up-to- date information.
Planning consent
Once surveys have been undertaken, designs may need to be changed in order for the project to receive planning consent. If an ecologist finds protected species on a site, then special licences will need to be obtained in order to move them and we have to propose strategies for avoidance or mitigation of risks to those creatures or compensation for loss of their habitat.
and advise where bats may be roosting, dormice may be hibernating or breeding birds may have built nests. If an ecological baseline survey isn’t undertaken, that can lead to more surveys being necessary than might otherwise have been the case; legal and licensing issues, more complex requirements for mitigation and compensation; more restrictions on working during development; higher adverse biodiversity impact and higher costs. By moving a site only slightly, it may be possible to avoid some or all these issues and make life considerably easier. Most ecological impact assessment work takes place in the spring during the
breeding season. When work is being planned, time needs to be allowed for surveys to take place and if this time is not factored in, significant delays can result. We may undertake desk survey work in the spring and, if there is evidence that great crested newts or breeding birds could be present, we would undertake field surveys during May and June when they are most active. However, if bats, water voles or badgers are potentially present, then our survey work would need to take place in September. It can be frustrating for project managers if work has to be delayed for several months until we can
In many developments, ecological surveys are completed and then the land is left for a long period of time before any works are started. During the intervening time, the vegetation on site changes and new wildlife moves in; this may mean that the whole ecological impact process will need to be repeated. The expression ‘nature abhors a vacuum’ may be a cliché, but it certainly applies here. Again, we can work with project managers to determine the risks and help them to control the budget and time implications. Biodiversity impact is a crucial aspect to consider when planning track work on both small and large projects. Timing is critical and it is important to plan ecological consultancy into your timetable for the whole life of the project. Remember that, when ecology is factored into the project from the outset, it will be more straightforward to get the planning permissions you require and you will stay within the law.
•
David Prys-Jones is Thomson Ecology’s railway sector lead Visit
www.thomsonecology.com
February 2014 Page 57
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