‘The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.’ Nelson Henderson, Under Whose Shade

What Bristol’s biodiversity duty report doesn’t tell youAugust 15, 2026
By the end of March this year, every council in England had to publish a report on what it is doing for biodiversity. Councils that are also local planning authorities — Bristol among them — must go further, and give details of the biodiversity net gain resulting, or expected to result, from the biodiversity gain plans they have approved.
Biodiversity Net Gain – what the biodiversity gain plans approved actually showAugust 13, 2026
Since February 2024 biodiversity net gain has been mandatory for major development in England - and for small sites since April of that year. Two and a half years on, there's still no publicly available national dataset of the gains that developers promised and say they're delivering.
When a city builds, where does nature go?July 28, 2026
Since February 2024, developers in England have had a legal duty to improve the biodiversity of their development site by at least 10%. This Biodiversity Net Gain — BNG — is calculated in ‘habitat units’ using a government spreadsheet. If a scheme cannot achieve this gain on the land it’s actually building on, it can buy the shortfall from a habitat bank anywhere else in England.
Ancient trees, missing data, and the fight over Bristol Airport’s planned expansionJuly 22, 2026
So far, most of the public alarm about this expansion has centred on Felton Common, the well-loved local nature reserve on the other side of the runway, where the airport wants to plant 8.5-metre approach lights and fencing across protected grassland. Campaigners under the Save Felton Common banner have campaigned hard against that ‘land grab’, and rightly so. But the fierce fight over the Common has largely overshadowed a second, quieter yet important threat next door — the loss of irreplaceable habitat at Cook’s Farm, which has drawn far less attention. That is what our objection is chiefly concerned with.
Why trees keep drawing the short straw in the new nature rulesJuly 22, 2026
We've written before about the rule change that, from 6 August 2026, lets the smallest building sites skip the 'leave nature better off' requirement. But that small-sites exemption is only one of several changes on the way to the same set of nature rules. Taken together, they keep landing on the same casualty: the everyday trees growing on our streets, and in our parks and gardens. Here is why trees, in particular, keep losing out.
The small-sites rule change that could quietly cost your neighbourhood its treesJuly 21, 2026
From 6 August 2026, a change to the planning rules takes effect that most people will never hear about — but it could reshape the trees on our streets, in our gardens and on the small plots being built on all over the country. Here is the short version.
St Philip’s Marsh: do the green space sums add up?July 18, 2026
Bristol's biggest regeneration plan promises parks within a five-minute walk of every front door. We measured the plan's own drawings to see whether the promise holds. Here's what we found.
The Local Nature Recovery Strategy and Bristol: a reassessmentJuly 10, 2026
In January 2025 we argued that the West of England Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) would do little to improve biodiversity net gain (BNG) in proposed development sites in Bristol. Since then, three things have changed enough to warrant a second look:
Understanding Biodiversity Gain PlansJuly 10, 2026
Since BNG became mandatory in February 2024, qualifying developments in England must show how they will deliver at least a 10% gain, to be set out in a Biodiversity Gain Plan (BGP) submitted to the local planning authority. We've transcribed 160 BGPs from 21 LPAs into a single, comparable dataset.
Losing our Local Green Space designationsJune 17, 2026
Are councils protecting our local green spaces? Our research reveals a worrying picture.
Cotham School and the Stoke Lodge treesOctober 23, 2025
In its Information Statement of October 2025 concerning its recent fencing works at Stoke Lodge Playing Fields, Cotham School has chosen to misunderstand our concerns about the welfare of the trees at Stoke Lodge Playing Fields.
Assessing habitat parcels: strategic significance explainedJanuary 26, 2025
To calculate the biodiversity value of a habitat, it’s important to assess its strategic significance. A habitat’s strategic significance takes into account both its type and its location. If strategic significance is high, then the habitat’s value will be uplifted by 15%. However, as this article explains, the opportunities for doing this are limited.
Replacing lost biodiversity: a missed opportunity for local offsetting?January 25, 2025
When developers cannot meet their obligation to replace habitat lost within their development site, plus at least 10%, they may buy habitat units to offset this lost habitat. These habitat units are available in ‘biodiversity gain sites’.
The Local Nature Recovery Strategy fails to deliver for BristolJanuary 17, 2025
WEMCA's Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) will fail to provide Bristol with the benefits promised for nature. While the new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules require most development in the city to increase biodiversity by at least 10%, unfortunately the LNRS will not apply to most potential development sites.
The 2025 Annual Tree Giveaway – free saplings available for plantingJanuary 9, 2025
Many thanks for of of you who have asked for trees - over 1,200! We have now closed the offer.

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