Wildlife Assessment Check tool

This is a free online tool for householders and small to medium-scale developers who want to undertake a development project to check whether they will need expert ecological advice before submitting a planning application.

A user can enter a development location using a map (either directly, or by place name/postcode or grid reference lookup). They then answer a number of context-sensitive questions based on user inputs about development type, habitats in the vicinity and works to be undertaken. Affected species and nearby sites designated for their wildlife or geological interest will be flagged, with further information available. The user can then print off a summary report, and/or save the results for future reference.

The Wildlife Assessment Check tool is built on WordPress with a bespoke theme, backed by an additional PostgreSQL database with PostGIS to hold the numerous GIS layers for species and designated sites geographic information and geometry, as well as the species and habitat triggers to underpin the checklists.

Launch

The website https://www.biodiversityinplanning.org/ was successfully launched in November 2018.