Nick Pollard
Planning and Development: The Process and Our Useful Resources
The planning process and how you can help
Part of our work involves campaigning for a planning system that delivers better outcomes for wildlife, climate and people.
New buildings and infrastructure can have significant impacts on nature. However, planning and development also create opportunities to restore habitats, improve ecological networks and secure long-term benefits for wildlife when done well. We work to influence the policies, strategies and major decisions that shape how development happens across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull.
As resources across the environmental sector become increasingly stretched, we are focusing our efforts where we can achieve the greatest impact for nature. This means prioritising strategic planning work, major developments, regional strategies and national policy, whilst helping local people develop the confidence and skills to speak up for wildlife in their own communities.
We are no longer able to review, screen or provide detailed responses to individual planning applications. Instead, we provide guidance, resources and information to help residents assess planning proposals and submit their own comments where they are concerned about impacts on wildlife. These can be found on the links below.
If you want to respond to a local planning application, our resources can help you understand the planning process, identify nature-related issues and prepare an effective response.
You can be an advocate for nature by:
Catherine Craig
Responding to planning applications
that could affect wildlife, habitats or green spaces in your area. Share evidence-based concerns with your local planning authority, ward councillors and planning committee members.
BenHall/2020VISION
Taking part in Local Plan consultations
and responding to Supplementary Planning Documents and other planning policy consultations. Strong planning policies are one of the most effective ways to secure long-term protection and enhancement for nature.
Catherine Craig
Getting involved in Neighbourhood Plans.
These plans can help protect valued green spaces, identify opportunities for habitat creation and influence future development within your community.
Catherine Craig
Recording wildlife in your local area.
Submit confirmed records to your local records centre. Good ecological data helps inform planning decisions and demonstrates the value of sites for wildlife.
Neil Phillips
Reporting suspected wildlife crime
to the Police and reporting breaches of planning conditions to your local authority where appropriate.
WKWT
Contacting your MP, councillors and decision-makers
about national and local policies that affect wildlife and nature recovery.
Lee Copplestone
Encouraging others to get involved.
More people speaking up for wildlife creates a stronger voice for nature and helps ensure local knowledge is heard in decision-making.
More space for nature, more people on nature's side
Strategic Planning and Policy
The Trust campaigns locally, regionally and nationally to ensure that planning policies place nature recovery at the heart of sustainable development.
Our work focuses on strategic planning documents including Local Plans, regional strategies, supplementary planning guidance and national policy consultations. We also engage with major infrastructure projects and large-scale developments where significant impacts on wildlife may occur.
By influencing these higher-level plans and policies, we can help shape the framework within which thousands of future planning decisions are made, securing better outcomes for nature over the long term.
We encourage residents and community groups to participate in planning consultations and use our guidance materials to help develop their own responses.
Read our planning report on how the planning system can help our health, nature and climate.
Major Developments and Strategic Projects
The Trust focuses its planning resources on the projects and proposals that have the potential to create the most significant risks or opportunities for nature.
This includes engagement with major infrastructure schemes, strategic development proposals and other large-scale projects that could have substantial implications for wildlife, habitats and ecological networks.
Where we intervene, our responses are evidence-led and informed by planning policy, ecological data and wildlife legislation, seeking to ensure that impacts are avoided, minimised and compensated appropriately, whilst maximising opportunities for nature recovery.
Supporting Communities to Take Action
Protecting nature requires more people to engage with the planning system.
Rather than commenting on individual planning applications, our role is increasingly to support and empower local communities, campaign groups and residents to advocate effectively for wildlife.
We provide guidance, resources and signposting to help people understand planning processes, identify potential ecological issues and prepare their own responses to planning consultations and development proposals.
By building local knowledge and confidence, we hope to see more people standing up for wildlife in the places they know best.
You can find further community advice on planning applications in our Community Hub
Woodland Trust / Niall Benvie
Planning Resources and Tools
The Wildlife Assessment Check is a free online tool designed to help householders and smaller developers understand whether ecological advice may be required before submitting a planning application.
The tool encourages applicants to consider wildlife issues early in the design process, helping to avoid delays, reduce costs and improve outcomes for nature. It also helps support local planning authorities by encouraging applicants to take greater responsibility for understanding the ecological implications of their proposals.
Please feel free to share this resource through your local networks.
Working with Decision-Makers
The Trust continues to work with local authorities, environmental organisations, government agencies and other stakeholders to promote nature-positive development.
By engaging early in policy development and strategic decision-making, we aim to ensure that wildlife considerations are embedded within plans and projects from the outset, helping to create solutions that benefit both people and nature.
Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts
Housing Vision
The Wildlife Trusts' vision for nature-friendly housing demonstrates how development can create benefits for wildlife, communities and the wider economy.
Benefits for wildlife
- Better protection for important wildlife sites.
- More space for wildlife and habitats.
- Stronger ecological connectivity.
- Buildings and neighbourhoods designed with wildlife in mind.
Hare - David Edwards
Benefits for residents
- Daily contact with nature.
- Improved physical and mental health.
- Greater resilience to climate change.
- Stronger communities and healthier places to live.
Luke Massey/2020VISION
Benefits for the economy and wider society
- Long-term environmental benefits.
- Green jobs and skills.
- Opportunities for local food growing.
- Reduced pressure on health and social services through healthier communities.
Benefits for developers
- More attractive developments.
- Enhanced reputation and brand value.
- Better customer satisfaction.
- Improved environmental performance.
Marmalade hoverfly © Nick Upton/2020VISION
News and Updates
Arrow Valley Solar
We are aware of a proposed solar farm development in south Warwickshire and east Worcestershire. This is a large application covering over 1700 hectares, making it the largest solar application we have seen in this area.
Given its scale, there is a risk the application could have a sizable and negative impact on the wildlife in the area.
As the application for the development is at an early stage, we will be reviewing the proposal and considering the potential implications for wildlife in Warwickshire.
Given the closeness of the scheme to some of our existing nature reserves, Local Wildlife Sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), we aim to be engaged in the consultation process and will be working with neighbouring trusts to seek discussions with the applicants in due course.
We will also be talking to the relevant councils and partner organisations to make sure we are all aware of the potential issues and that wildlife is properly considered in the decision-making process.
Our approach and involvement will be balanced, recognising both the importance of protecting more land for nature and the broader need to support climate action, carbon reduction and the transition to clean energy. It is essential these elements are taken forward together in a complementary manner, and we avoid a trade-off between a transition to clean energy and a brighter future for wildlife.
At this stage we are unable to provide detailed comments or confirm our position on the development. The current round of consultation will attempt to define the requirements of the environmental investigations needed to inform the planning application. We will provide updates on our position and publish our formal comments on our website as the process develops, and once they have been submitted to the relevant authorities.
As you would expect, our formal comments will be largely limited to ecological considerations. We are keenly aware that visual and landscape impacts, alongside traffic and construction will be significant to local communities and our silence on those issues, does not mean we are not concerned about them. However, they fall outside our professional remit, and it would not be appropriate for us to provide formal comments on those topics. We will instead be recommending the examining authorities use specialists in the relevant topics for a fully informed view, to help with their considerations.
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