Technical Resources
As the Natural Environment work across the West Midlands develops, the WMCA continues to provide technical support and reports to help stakeholders to protect, restore and enhance the region's natural environment.
Brownfield Habitats and Biodiversity Net Gain
With greater emphasis being placed on development on brownfield land there is increased risk of impacts to the Open Mosaic priority habitat type that can occur in such areas. With an understanding of the challenges of developing brownfield sites, the WMCA has developed this design guide to support stakeholders involved in urban development, and specifically brownfield sites, to ensure positive outcomes for biodiversity and delivery of high-quality habitat as part of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG). This is an important piece of work, not only for the West Midlands, but for other urban areas across England, as it will help to address the need to deliver housing on brownfield sites in a more sensitive and sustainable way, creating better multi-functional green infrastructure for people and nature to benefit from.
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Implementation Guidance
The WMCA Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) guidance is designed to provide a comprehensive guide for practitioners when implementing the BNG policy. The document has a detailed contents page that allows direct hyperlink access to the relevant chosen section.
Nature Based Sustainable Drainage
Adapting to our changing climate is becoming a major challenge and nature-based solutions can play a key role in this. Nature-based solutions can also offer a multitude of co-benefits including flood alleviation, urban cooling, biodiversity improvements and amenity value. Thew following report sets out the benefits of using nature-based solutions for sustainable drainage systems.
Natural capital assessment of the regions tree stock
An i-Tree Eco survey of the seven metropolitan areas of the WMCA has been undertaken. The summary of the survey can be found below and full detailed reports can be viewed here.
Contact us
For any questions or queries about any of this work, please contact us at environment@wmca.org.uk