Biodiversity and planning

The Biodiversity and Planning guidance document has been designed to help those involved in planning in Oxfordshire ensure that development within the county protects and enhances this valuable local biodiversity. 

The guidance document has been arranged to align with National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sections on biodiversity and has sections dealing with various biodiversity features which should be protected and enhanced through the planning system including a description legislative and policy requirements regarding species, habitats and designated sites.

The following aspects, including relevant legislation and policy, are covered by the Biodiversity and Planning guidance document: 

• How to approach biodiversity in the planning process
• Biodiversity information requirements
• Internationally and nationally designated wildlife sites
• Legally protected species and licencing
• Non-statutory designated wildlife sites
• Priority habitats and species
• Irreplaceable habitats
• Other areas of importance to biodiversity in Oxfordshire
• Oxfordshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy
• Biodiversity Net Gain
• Green infrastructure
• Oxfordshire’s Wildlife and Landscape Study
• Guidance on where to find further information and useful contacts 

This guidance should be helpful if you are:

• A planning officer in either policy or development management;
• writing a Neighbourhood Plan;
• going to be submitting a planning application;
• wanting to know more about the wildlife of Oxfordshire and its conservation.

Biodiversity and Planning guidance document downloads

• Download the Full Biodiversity and Planning in Oxfordshire guidance (pdf format, 4.8Mb) - updated in June 2014 including up-to-date information on planning policy. Or you can download the high-resolution version by sections that are of print quality:
• Section 1 - Biodiversity and planning in Oxfordshire (pdf format, 2.8Mb)
• Section 2 - Internationally and nationally designated sites (pdf format, 4.5Mb)
• Section 3 - Local sites and priority habitats and species (pdf format, 6.9Mb)
• Section 4 - Oxfordshire's wildlife and landscape study (pdf format, 4.2Mb)
• Section 5 - Further information (pdf format, 765Kb)

Biodiversity information requirements 

It is the applicant's duty to provide sufficient information to support a planning application.

Pre-application consultation with the relevant planning authority is recommended to identify any information and survey requirements and prevent delays caused by insufficient information, since the planning department should not register an application without the appropriate surveys if they have been deemed necessary.

Further information on Oxfordshire County Council’s local list, which contains our minimum biodiversity information requirements for a planning application can be found at: OXFORDSHIRE LOCAL LIST FOR VALIDATION

Further information on how to submit a planning application, as well as active planning applications, local planning policies and monitoring and enforcement information can be found at: Planning | Oxfordshire County Council

Don't leave it too late

The earlier in the pre-application process protected species are considered the less likely there will be delays. This is because some species can only be surveyed for at certain times of the year and you may need to wait up to a year to gather all the information needed.

Oxfordshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy

In late June 2023, we were appointed by Defra as the ‘Responsible Authority (RA)’ to prepare the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for the county.

• Local nature recovery strategies describe and map important nature recovery actions developed through local engagement.
• They target actions in locations where they are most needed and where those actions could provide the best environmental outcomes as well as wider benefits.
• The strategies will help to join up national efforts to reverse the decline of biodiversity. 

Following a collaborative process to develop the LNRS, and public consultation, we published the Oxfordshire LNRS on 12 November 2025. 

It is important to consider Oxfordshire’s LNRS from the earliest possible stage in a planning application, details of how the LNRS relates to the planning process are available in the Planners and Public Bodies User Guide 

Conservation Target Areas 

In 2006 Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC) was funded by Oxfordshire County Council to identify Conservation Target Areas (CTAs), some of the most important areas for wildlife conservation in the county, where targeted conservation action would have the greatest benefit. There are 37 Conservation Target Areas (CTAs) covering just over 20% of the county by area (526.2 km²) and containing 95% of the Site of Special Scientific Interest land area in Oxfordshire. Many Local Plan policies in Oxfordshire reference CTAs and they are used to co-ordinate work of local organisations working towards landscape scale conservation in these areas. The Local Nature Recovery Strategy Local Habitat Map now includes areas covered by CTAs. 

Protected Species Legislation summary

In relation to activities likely to be carried out during development, UK and European wildlife legislation makes it illegal:

For bats, dormice, water voles, otters and great crested newts:

• intentionally kill, injure or take from the wild
• damage, destroy or obstruct access to any structure or place used by the species whether or not the animals are in occupation
• intentionally or recklessly disturb the species while they are in a place of shelter or protection.

For reptiles:

• intentionally or recklessly kill or injure any native reptile.

For birds:

• intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest or eggs of any wild bird species.
• kill, injure or take any wild bird species.
• intentionally or recklessly disturb any wild bird listed on Schedule 1 while it is nesting, near a nest with young or disturb the dependent young of such a bird.

For badgers:

• interfere with a badger sett by damaging or destroying it.
• obstruct access to, or any entrance of, a badger sett.
• disturb a badger when it is occupying a sett.

For white-clawed crayfish:

intentionally or recklessly kill or injure.

Great Crested Newt District Level Licence

Using the Council’s District Licence

• Oxfordshire County Council holds a Great Crested Newt District (or “Organisational”) Licence, designed by NatureSpace and granted by Natural England, under which developments can now be authorised.
• If you wish to use the District Licence, you must apply before or during the planning process, otherwise amendments or variations to planning permission would be necessary and this can cause delays in project timescales.
• To find out more about the District Licensing Scheme, contact NatureSpace to receive a free quotation within three working days. The first stage fee to join the scheme is based on the location (i.e. which impact risk zone) and scale of the development. Once paid, a detailed assessment of the development proposals will be carried out to determine associated costs, timings, mitigation and compensation requirements within 10 working days. To understand more about the process, visit:  Application Process - NatureSpace Partnership Limited
• The quickest and simplest way to join the District Licensing Scheme and become authorised by the council is to submit your NatureSpace Report or Certificate planning application so that the required planning conditions are attached to planning permission. However, if you already have planning permission and there is a reason why you’d like to consider joining the District Licensing Scheme, then there are options available to you – please submit an enquiry to NatureSpace to find out more.
• Under the District Licensing Scheme, habitat compensation is delivered by the Newt Conservation Partnership, who take responsibility for habitat creation and long-term monitoring and management from the developer. Compensation through the scheme delivers landscape-scale conservation for great crested newts. To learn more about the conservation
  strategy and read case studies on habitat delivered by the scheme, visit: Conservation - NatureSpace Partnership (naturespaceuk.com)

Users of the District Licence scheme can also benefit from the integrated Biodiversity Net Gain package managed by NatureSpace and the Newt Conservation Partnership. More information on this can be found on the NatureSpace website.

District Licensing Scheme contact:
http://www.naturespaceuk.com
info@naturespaceuk.com
01865 688307[JW1] 

Consultancy Services

The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) maintains a directory of members who offer ecological consultancy services. It is advisable to speak to several consultancies to find one that best fits your requirements and budget. If a European protected species (bat, dormouse, otter, water vole or great crested newt) is likely to be affected, check that a surveyor is available who holds the necessary licence to carry out the work.

If you find protected species on an area to be developed

A list of species covered by UK and European legislation can be found on Natural England’s Protected Species Lists.

If you think that proposed development on the site will breach appropriate legislation, contact the relevant planning authority or search their website to determine whether or not there is a current application being considered for the site.

If there is an application currently being considered, find out if an ecological survey report has been submitted and whether or not it takes into account the species present. If not, inform the relevant planning officer and the planning authority ecologist.

If permission has already been granted and the species in question has not been considered, it is still worth contacting the planning authority since further surveys may yet need to be done and there may still be time to adapt plans if necessary.

If you find protected species on an area with development already underway

 If development on a site is already underway and you suspect that activities will affect a protected species on that site in a way that is illegal (e.g. a barn conversion where bats have been seen but no licence has been obtained) then it is a civil matter rather than a planning one.

In this case contact your local wildlife crime officer at Thames Valley Police . It is always helpful in such instances to have evidence of the presence of protected species on the site before work started.

In all cases, you should submit the record(s) to your local biological records centre so that the information can inform future development. In Oxfordshire, this is the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC); send the details to one of the Data and Wildlife Records contacts listed (including the date and grid reference if possible).