Putting nature at the heart of our new community and living in harmony with flora and fauna is central to our ethos. By law, we are prohibited from developing any land on and near bird habitats along the Severn Estuary. But our objective is to go above and beyond this and considerably boost biodiversity.
The new neighbourhoods will be set back considerably from the Severn Estuary and will provide a new nature reserve to complement the existing roost site at Berkeley Pill. The proposals include a 400m buffer zone between the proposed development and SPA. A section of the Severn Way will be diverted to a location further away from Berkeley Pill, as well as restricted access to the new nature reserve to avoid recreational disturbance to wetland birds. Raised viewing platforms (with hides and interpretation boards) will be provided to help increase visual and recreational amenity along this stretch of the path.
We will also include Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (SANG), an easily accessible, multi-functional network of green space, a range of amenity opportunities for residents of all ages, such as circular walks/cycle rides of varying lengths.
However, our objective is to also go above and beyond this and considerably boost biodiversity through the provision of a web of multifunctional Green Infrastructure. We will:
- Create a green web connecting the neighbourhoods to green spaces so that birds and other animals can safely move around
- Revive biodiversity
- Restore ponds and rivers
- Create a nature reserve, which will form part of the buffer between development and the SPA
- Plant new native woodlands.