Ed Cooper of BioCap Ltd gave a fascinating talk on the Sulham Woodmeadows project near Tilehurst in West Berkshire. He explained the importance of Natural Capital and how it helps building developers meet their Biodiversity Net Gains (BNG) targets. Developers must increase the biodiversity of the sites on which they’re building by 10% but this isn’t always possible to generate from the site itself. BioCap provides habitat banks from which developers can purchase BNG “units” to achieve the required increase. Sulham Woodmeadows is the first of its kind, with poor arable farmland being transformed into wetlands, wildflower meadows, scrub, copse and hedgerows.

The project was started 4 years ago. The farmer who owned the land making the upfront investment, which he has recouped from the BNG units purchased. BioCap has already seen many positives for wildlife. Surveys have been conducted on soil quality, birds (breeding lapwings have arrived), butterflies (22 species) and moths (119 species), with more categories being added in the future, hopefully. The grassland is managed by grazed cattle and, as a result, wildflowers are thriving.

Although making nature an asset with monetary value could be seen as controversial, there’s no doubt turning this 133 hectares (about the size of 186 football pitches) of previously barren land into a mixture of thriving wildlife habitat has benefited everyone.

See www.biocap.org.uk for more information.