Reaching a biodiversity milestone on the road to becoming Nature Positive
We're on course to achieve our 2020 commitment to halting the decline of biodiversity across our activities by 2025
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As operator of England’s motorways and major A roads, we're becoming one of the country’s leading promoters natural habitat creation and improvement.
In the next five years, we'll move further toward being nature positive. We aim to deliver at least a 10 per cent biodiversity net gain on our work between 2025 and 2030.
We're doing this:
- by building biodiversity enhancement into our major projects and maintenance activities
- through innovative partnerships with conservation charities
Our projects include:
- transforming a former open cast mine next to the M6 near Wigan into new wetland, grassland and areas of woodland as part of a major motorway upgrade
- a 15 year agreement to support species rich grasslands on the Greena Moor Nature Reserve in Cornwall
- Enhancements for nature, including a green bridge, alongside major improvements to the A30 in Cornwall
- protecting bat populations on historic railway structures across the UK
Seven projects in the South West and North East regions are being delivered through the Meadow Makers initiative.
In partnership with conservation charity Plantlife, we're protecting and restore species rich wildflower and waxcap grasslands. This will help boost the biodiversity of over 100 hectares of existing grasslands.
What is biodiversity net gain?
Biodiversity is the variety of all life on Earth. It includes all species of animals and plants as well asthe natural systems that support them.
Biodiversity net gain is a way of creating and improving natural habitats.
To deliver biodiversity net gain, a development must have a measurably positive impact on biodiversity, compared to what was there before. This is measured in biodiversity units.
We're proud to have delivered more than 4,500 biodiversity units since 2020, becoming one of the leading organisations in this area.
That’s the equivalent of:
- 632,000 trees
- 1,020 hectares of wildflower grassland
- 5 hectares of peat bog habitat
- 2.2 hectares of pond habitat
(Page header image: credit - Tim Haskell)