Policy information sourced from The London Plan 2021

G6 Biodiversity and Access to Nature

  1. Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) should be protected.
  2. Boroughs, in developing Development Plans, should:
    • use up-to-date information about the natural environment and the relevant procedures to identify SINCs and ecological corridors to identify coherent ecological networks
    • identify areas of deficiency in access to nature (i.e. areas that are more than 1km walking distance from an accessible Metropolitan or Borough SINC) and seek opportunities to address them
    • support the protection and conservation of priority species and habitats that sit outside the SINC network, and promote opportunities for enhancing them using Biodiversity Action Plans
    • seek opportunities to create other habitats, or features such as artificial nest sites, that are of particular relevance and benefit in an urban context
    • ensure designated sites of European or national nature conservation importance are clearly identified and impacts assessed in accordance with legislative requirements.
  3. Where harm to a SINC is unavoidable, and where the benefits of the development proposal clearly outweigh the impacts on biodiversity, the following mitigation hierarchy should be applied to minimise development impacts:
    • avoid damaging the significant ecological features of the site
    • minimise the overall spatial impact and mitigate it by improving the quality or management of the rest of the site
    • deliver off-site compensation of better biodiversity value.
  4. Development proposals should manage impacts on biodiversity and aim to secure net biodiversity gain. This should be informed by the best available ecological information and addressed from the start of the development process.
  5. Proposals which reduce deficiencies in access to nature should be considered positively.

For more information please see The London Plan 2021