Policy information sourced from the Totternhoe Neighbourhood Plan
T8: Natural landscape and biodiversity
1. As appropriate to their scale, nature and location, development proposals should maintain and, where practicable, enhance the natural environment, landscape features such as chalk downland and orchards, and the rural character and setting of the neighbourhood area. All development proposals should maintain and enhance existing on-site biodiversity assets and provide for wildlife needs on site. development proposals should demonstrate that they have addressed the following matters, as they are appropriate to their scale, nature and location:
- The guidance and advice contained in the CBC Design Guide, the Chilterns Buildings Design Guide and the CBC Landscape Character Assessment for the Totternhoe Chalk Escarpment;
- Achieve a net gain in biodiversity, as measured by the Defra Biodiversity Metric;
- Protect designated sites, protected species and ancient or species-rich hedgerows, grassland and woodlands;
- Preserve ecological networks, in particular those defined in Figure 7.1, that enable the migration and transit of flora and fauna;
- Protect ancient trees or trees of arboricultural value
- Include new landscape buffers where a development abuts open countryside. These must be of an appropriate scale an in keeping with local landscape character to ensure effective mitigation and sympathetic integration of any development;
- Incorporate open space that is:
- in usable parcels of land and not fragmented
- safe, easily accessible and not severed by any physical barrier
- is accessible to the general public
- creates a safe environment considering lighting and layout
- complemented by landscaping
- Protect dark, rural landscapes from light intrusion/pollution.
2. The use of an appropriate legal agreement is encouraged to ensure proper management of the open space over the lifetime of the development.
For more information, please visit the Totternhoe Neighbourhood Plan