Biodiversity and Orkney Islands Council
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is “the variability among living organisms within terrestrial, marine and aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes they are part of. This includes diversity within species, between species and across ecosystems.” (Scottish Biodiversity Strategy 2022-2045)
Biodiversity supports human life by providing food, water and materials, as well as natural services such as shade and cooling, shelter, flood defences, water and nutrient cycles.
Who should undertake biodiversity measures?
All planning applications (other than those for individual householder development such as extensions) are required to submit information about how the biodiversity interest of the proposed development site will be conserved, restored and enhanced, see Policy 3 NPF4.
To help applicants in Orkney with local scale development applications, guidance has been produced along with a biodiversity form that must be completed and submitted with relevant local scale planning applications within the Orkney Islands Council area, for more information and advice go to Considering and including Biodiversity in Development in the Related Downloads.
Biodiversity measures are secured by planning condition to be retained for the lifetime of the development, so thought needs to be given to where the measures are located as well as the ease of maintenance for future owner/occupiers, for example:
- Avoid creating biodiversity measures in flatter areas of the proposed garden ground that would prevent extensions or children’s play areas being built.
- Avoid measures that may be difficult to maintain long term, for example, wildflower meadows.
- Biodiversity measures located around boundaries tend to work best as they can also provide privacy and shelter.
Separate guidance is due to be published by Scottish Government for national and major scale developments, including those requiring Environmental Impact Assessment.
Who can I contact about biodiversity measures?
If applicants have questions about how to address biodiversity policy requirements for local, major and national scale developments in Orkney, they should email devplan@orkney.gov.uk
Scottish Biodiversity Strategy
The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are a central focus of Scottish planning policy. The Scottish Government’s Scottish Biodiversity Strategy 2022-2045 sets out a range of actions and objectives to safeguard and improve Scotland’s biodiversity.
Biodiversity duty
The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 places a duty on all public bodies, including Orkney Islands Council, to further the conservation of biodiversity in the course of carrying out their responsibilities. This is commonly referred to as the ‘biodiversity duty’. In complying with the biodiversity duty, public bodies must have regard to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.
The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 places a further obligation on public bodies to provide a publicly available report, every three years, on the actions undertaken to comply with the biodiversity duty; see Biodiversity Duty Reports produced by Orkney Islands Council in the Related Downloads section .
NatureScot provide more information on the ‘biodiversity duty’, see ‘Related Sites section.
