Neath Port Talbot Replacement Local Development Plan. Candidate Sites - Habitat Surveys

Description

An award has been made by Neath Port Talbot Council to appoint the services of a consultant or consultancy company, to undertake habitat surveys and produce basic ecological summary forms/reports for a number of sites throughout Neath Port Talbot. The surveys are intended to inform the assessment of ‘Candidate Sites’ for the Replacement Local Development Plan (RLDP). A Call for Candidate Sites was announced on 1st March 2022 and runs through to the noon on 31st May 2022. The Call for Candidate Sites is the first formal stage of preparing the RLDP - in accordance with Regulation 14(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development Plan) (Wales) Regulations 2005 (as amended 2015). Candidate Sites for inclusion in the plan can be promoted for development or protection for a variety of uses including, but not limited to, housing, employment, retail, tourism, community use, Gypsy and Traveller accommodation, education, health and social care, protection, leisure and recreation, green infrastructure, active travel, transport infrastructure, renewable energy, biodiversity, waste or minerals. The Council needs to establish which sites submitted during the Call are suitable for the proposed use and inclusion in the plan. This assessment includes consideration of up to date ecological information. It is the expectation of the chosen consultant to survey and produce ecological summary forms/reports for a number of ‘Candidate Sites’. This should include: • identification of habitats and species listed under S7 of the Environment Wales Act and/or that would meet the criteria for designation as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, • identification of existing records or potential for protected species • identification of protected and local site designations • highlight other key ecological features, including ecological connectivity or potential to be important for green infrastructure/nature-based solutions. • It is expected that the form/report produced will include a plan of the site using a traffic light approach to assessing importance of features. The consultant will complete a programme of work made up of the following elements: 1. The consultant will visit sites and undertake habitat surveys. 2. The consultant will produce summary ecological reports/forms for each site surveyed; using traffic light plans to highlight key issues/features. A standard template will be developed by the consultant/s based on the example provided in Appendix G and will ensure the template is provided in an accessible format 3. Work closely with the Countryside and Wildlife Team to ensure surveys and reports/forms are consistent with those being produced in-house, are fit for purpose and include all relevant and up to date information available. 4. Help to provide training for new Countryside and Wildlife team members undertaking surveys to ensure consistency across all surveyors. 5. A GIS layer of the mapping is preferred but if the consultant is not able to map directly onto a GIS system support may be provided by the Countryside and Wildlife Team. The consultant is expected to produce ecological summary forms/templates for a variety of sites in Neath Port Talbot, within an anticipated timescale of May, 2022 to 30th November, 2022. With survey work largely completed between May – September 2022; with write up/mapping over October – November. It is expected that completed summary forms/templates will be provided to the Countryside and Wildlife Team in batches throughout October and November. Due to the timing of RLDP delivery it is expected that at least draft versions of all sites will be required by the 2nd week of November with final copies being provided by the end of November 2022.