A Focus on District Level Licensing

Summary

Join the CIEEM Academia SIG for the March edition of their monthly discussion events. We will be hearing about the ecological outcomes of the NatureSpace lead District Licencing after five years of operation; focusing on both site level losses and gains but also landscape level suitability for great crested newts.

Please note that this discussion will not be being recorded, so if you are interested in this topic you will need to attend on the day.

Description

At the time of the meeting District Licensing for great crested newts, provided by NatureSpace Partnership and The Newt Conservation Partnership, will have been operational for six years. Following the 2023 monitoring period, an evaluation began examining and reviewing the first five years of operation critically. This considers the outcomes for great crested newts, developers, local authorities and the wider environment. This evaluation is ongoing. Within this presentation we will explore the conservation outcomes in terms of lost and gained habitat, great crested newt pond occupancy of created habitat and how this compares to the expected background occupancy levels for an area. We will take a deeper dive into the analysis that explores the key Favourable Conservation Status objectives, drilling down into how the predicted suitability of the landscape has changed as a result of actions undertaken via the District Licence.

Andrew Buxton is Head of Science at NatureSpace Partnership and has been involved since the District Licensing concept stage. Having previously undertaken habitat creation and site monitoring for the scheme, Andrew now focuses at the strategic level on ecological outcomes, policy and expansion. Andrew is a member of Natural England Great Crested Newt Licensing Expert Pannel. Previously Andrew undertook a PhD and Post Doc at Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent focusing on great crested newt eDNA survey detection probabilities and error rates, and has worked as an ecological consultant.

Knowledge Level

Suitable for all

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