As a charity, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust cannot generate profit. All of the profits generated through our Wild Solutions consultancy are fed straight back into the charity to support our nature recovery work, allowing us to have a greater impact for wildlife.

Yes. Whilst we don’t offer ecological impact assessments in association with planning applications for proposed developments, we do work with developers to secure the best outcomes for nature. As well as providing advice, Wild Solutions also delivers ecosystem services, including Biodiversity Net Gain units. If you are interested in finding out more about how we can work with developers, please get in touch.

Whilst we work with a wide range of corporate partners and businesses in our efforts to secure nature’s recovery in Derbyshire, we will not work on a project that we feel will have a negative impact on nature, aiming to create large scale, strategic changes where possible.

Due to the transient nature of our wild species, seasonal fluctuations in behaviour and peak flowering seasons, habitat and species of interest surveys can only be carried out at certain times of year. See our survey calendar for more information or reach out to us for a discussion.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is an approach to land management that aims to deliver measurable improvements for biodiversity by creating or enhancing habitats, watercourses and hedgerows in association with development (Planning Advice Service, 2021).

All commercial developments which have biodiversity within their red line boundary will require developers to provide an increase in the equivalent natural habitats, either in the form of Habitat, River and Stream or Hedgerow units, requiring a net gain in all of those which occur within the red line boundary.

The Environment Act 2021 sets out the requirements for mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain by November 2023.

The legislation requires all commercial developments to deliver a minimum of 10% net gain in biodiversity and for these habitats to be secured for at least 30 years.

The mitigation hierarchy (avoidance, mitigation and compensation) applies to all potential losses and through the DEFRA BNG Metric (currently Version 4.0) an additional hierarchy applies, using various multipliers inherent in the tool, for the value of compensation. With on-site compensation measures scoring the most favourably.

However, in many instances it may not be possible for all of the Biodiversity Net Gain to be delivered on site and therefore off-site measures must be considered.

Wild Solutions is creating local, nature rich habitat banks across the county to provide a solution to the demand for off-site biodiversity Net Gain. Backed by over 60 years’ experience creating and managing spaces for nature in Derbyshire, Wild Solutions is positioned to deliver high quality, strategically located natural spaces that also deliver a wide range of ecosystem services that society needs.