Case Studies

Our role: Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) for plans and programmes is a relatively new area of work stemming from the European Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) that was transposed into UK law by the ‘Habitats Regulations’ in July 2007. Ecosulis provided ecological support, alongside Aquatonics Ltd and John Knight Ecology, to the Appropriate Assessment (AA) stage of the HRA of the Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council Minerals and Waste Development Framework, which is being led by the consultancies Enfusion Ltd and the Center for Sustainability C4S/TRL.

The HRA process undertaken by Enfusion and C4S, involved scoping and screening work for twenty two internationally designated sites within and around the Wiltshire and Swindon administrative boundaries. Of the twenty two sites, thirteen covering SAC/SPA & Ramsar designations, were subject to more detailed AA in order to determine whether the Minerals and Waste Plans as proposed, would significantly effect their integrity. The results of the complete HRA, including recommendations for mitigation, will be published alongside the Plans Submission Reports in March 2008.