Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
EXTENDED PHASE 1 HABITAT SURVEY Former primary school site at Braybrooke, Northamptonshire. REF: 13-2936 3431 D02 R DATE: March 2014 Prepared For GSS Architecture 35 Headlands Kettering Northamptonshire NN15 7ES Prepared By Lockhart Garratt Limited 7-8 Melbourne House Corbygate Business Park Weldon, Corby Northamptonshire NN17 5JG Tel: 01536 408840 Email: [email protected] 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 4 1.1 Terms of Instruction ................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Report Limitations ...................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Documents Provided .................................................................................................. 4 1.4 Qualifications ............................................................................................................. 4 1.5 The Site ..................................................................................................................... 4 2. APPROACH ............................................................................................................... 4 3. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Desk Study................................................................................................................. 5 3.2 Extended Phase1 Habitat Survey ............................................................................... 5 3.3 Habitat Assessment Evaluation Criteria ..................................................................... 6 3.4 Fauna surveys completed as part of Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey ..................... 6 4. DESK STUDY RESULTS ........................................................................................... 8 4.1 Northamptonshire Biological Records Centre ............................................................. 8 5. EXTENDED PHASE 1 HABITAT SURVEY RESULTS ............................................. 10 5.2 Habitat Descriptions ................................................................................................. 10 5.3 Faunal surveys completed as part of Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey .................. 12 6. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................ 14 6.1 Nature Conservation Sites ....................................................................................... 14 6.2 Habitats .................................................................................................................. 14 6.2 Protected Species .................................................................................................... 14 7. MITIGATION AND ENHANCEMENT ....................................................................... 16 7.1 Nature Conservation Sites ....................................................................................... 16 7.2 Habitats .................................................................................................................... 16 7.3 Protected Species .................................................................................................... 16 7.4 Other species ........................................................................................................... 17 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 18 APPENDIX 1: ...................................................................................................................... 19 APPENDIX 2: ...................................................................................................................... 20 APPENDIX 3: ...................................................................................................................... 21 APPENDIX 4: ...................................................................................................................... 22 APPENDIX 5: ...................................................................................................................... 23 www.lockhart-garratt.co.uk 13-2936 3431 D02 R Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey March 2014 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Lockhart Garratt Ltd was commissioned by GSS Architecture on behalf of LGSS to carry out an Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey including desk study on the former primary school site at Braybrooke, Northamptonshire. There were two non-statutory designated sites revealed within the desk study, both of which were over 1700m from the development site. there were only 3 records of birds within the desk study data. The Extended Phase 1 Survey was undertaken on 14th March 2014, with a further internal inspection of the school building being undertaken on 18th March 2014. The predominant habitat was amenity grassland, with a large area of hardstanding, both of these have a low habitat value. There were a number of scattered trees on site with a mixture of species, these were considered to be of intermediate value providing nesting opportunities for birds. Both the exterior and interior of the former school buildings showed evidence of bat use in the form of droppings. The proposals for the site will impact on a number of trees and will involve the demolition of the existing buildings. Therefore recommendations have been made for mitigation and enhancement. These recommendations include: Retain as many mature trees where possible, with a focus on the most mature and best condition trees. Incorporate a wildlife friendly, native species based landscaping scheme. Further surveys for bat roosts in trees that are proposed for removal. Emergence/dawn re-entry surveys of the building to assess current bat use and activity. Clearance of any vegetation likely to support nesting bird to be done outside the breeding season (March – September inclusive) or to be supervised and guided by a suitably qualified and experienced ecologist. 3 www.lockhart-garratt.co.uk 13-2936 3431 D02 R Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey March 2014 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Terms of Instruction 1.1.1 This report has been commissioned by LGSS to provide an ecological assessment of a proposed re-development of the former Braybrooke primary school. The site is located on Church Close, Braybrooke, Northamptonshire (see Appendix 1 for a site location plan). 1.1.2 The site has a central grid reference of SP 76352 84626 .The site boundary is that shown on Phase 1 Habitat Plan presented in Appendix 2. 1.2 Report Limitations 1.2.1 This is an ecological report and as such no reliance should be given to comments relating to buildings, engineering, soils or other unrelated matters. 1.2.2 All of the buildings on site were subject to an external inspection as part of this assessment. The main school buildings were inspected internally. 1.3 Documents Provided 1.3.1 As background information the following documentation was provided: Preliminary site plan – dated August 2010 1.4 Qualifications 1.4.1 The authors of this report are detailed below: James Whiteford BSc(Hons), MCIEEM, MSB Primary Author / Primary Surveyor Joanne Underwood BA (Hons) Secondary Author / Secondary Surveyor John Lockhart FRICS CEnv Project Director Simon Muddiman BA(Hons) Graphics 1.5 The Site 1.5.1 The site is approximately 0.57ha in size and is a former primary school site, comprising predominantly of buildings with associated hardstanding and amenity grassland (see Appendix 2). 1.5.2 The immediate landscape to the north, east and west of the site is residential housing, forming part of the village of Braybrooke. The surrounding landscape to the south is arable farmland and pasture. 2. APPROACH 2.1.1 To assess the ecological issues associated with the site and to inform any further assessments or mitigation, the following tasks were undertaken by ecologists from Lockhart Garratt in March 2014 A Desk Study in March 2014; An Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey 4 www.lockhart-garratt.co.uk 13-2936 3431 D02 R Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey March 2014 Ground-based inspection of trees within the site for potential bat roosts in March 2014 Internal and external inspections of all buildings with bat potential in March 2014 3. METHODOLOGY 3.1 Desk Study 3.1.1 The purpose of the desk study was to collect baseline data held by statutory and non-statutory consultees and to obtain any views they may have about the proposals. A secondary purpose of the desk study was to collect records of species that may not be present at the time of survey and identify any protected species or habitats which may potentially be affected by the proposals. 3.1.2 This information was gathered from the following organisations (with the full information presented in Appendix I): Northamptonshire Biodiversity Records Centre (NBRC) 3.1.3 The desk study covered a 2km radius from the study site. A small proportion of the 2km radius (approximately 5%) falls outside the geographical remit of NBRC. This 5% area is covered by Leicestershire and Rutland Environmental Records Centre (LRERC). It was decided that records from LRERC would not be obtained as baseline data for a core area 1km radius from the site boundary would be sufficient. 3.2 Extended Phase1 Habitat Survey 3.2.1 A walkover ecological appraisal was conducted following an approach based upon the Extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey technique of the Joint