Planning Queries

We often receive enquiries from people concerned for wildlife when a planning application is registered for a local green space.

One of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s roles is to keep an eye out for planning proposals which could damage important areas for wildlife, and to put forward the case against damaging development. However, we only have limited resources, so we must prioritise the cases with which we become involved. To decide which planning proposals we will deal with, we look at the wildlife value of the site affected by the proposal. If the proposal adversely affects a County Wildlife Site or land of equivalent wildlife value, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust will generally become involved in opposing or seeking to amend the planning application.

If the site in question does not come up to the standard of a County Wildlife Site, then its wildlife value will probably not be high enough to be used as a valid argument against development. In this situation other arguments (such as the landscape value of the land) will carry more weight with the planning authority. However, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust confines itself to getting involved in planning matters where there is a major wildlife issue.

Because of this, there are instances where members of the public will approach Herefordshire Wildlife Trust looking for help with fighting a local development, and we will have to decline to get involved. This is not because we don’t care about the small scale damage to wildlife which such developments can cause, or because we don’t care about common wildlife – it's because our resources are limited. Moreover, such proposals are often best fought by local people on a whole range of grounds, of which damage to wildlife would only be a small part.

Guidance notes on objecting to a planning application

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has produced a guide which is aimed at people who wish to comment on, or object to planning applications. The organisation has produced this guide as it simply does not have the resources, or detailed local knowledge, to deal with the hundreds of individual planning applications that arise throughout Herefordshire each year. We therefore believe that it is more effective to give people advice which they can then use to write to the Planning Authority themselves. Please download below: