Policy information sourced from the Hertfordshire Waste Development Framework, Waste Core Strategy & Development Management Policies DPD
19: Protection and Mitigation
In order to protect and safeguard Hertfordshire’s diversity of natural and historic environmental assets and in order to minimise the impacts of development, proposals should:
- Where appropriate, provide opportunities to contribute to the delivery of the national, regional and local Biodiversity Action Plan targets;
- Where appropriate protect and enhance existing woodland, trees and hedges through improved management and new planting, including management, over the long-term. Where the quantity or quality of existing woodland, trees and hedges is lost, redress in at least equivalent measures will be sought, with species to be agreed with the Waste Planning Authority, so as to recreate a suitable landscape and habitat;
- Not result in the permanent loss in quality or extent of the best and most versatile agricultural land unless there is an overriding need for the development, and either sufficient land in lower grades is unavailable, or available lower grade land has an environmental value which outweighs the agricultural considerations; and
- Include measures to minimise visual intrusion and any adverse impact on the local landscape and countryside.
For more information please see Hertfordshire Waste Development Framework