Lepus believes in planning at the landscape scale to deliver sustainable development. 

OUR SERVICES

Lepus is a landscape ecology, environmental planning and sustainability appraisal practice based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Lepus Consulting is an established specialist environmental assessment practice. Our skilled team of professional environmental planners, ecologists and landscape architects work proactively with our clients to develop high quality assessments, advice and guidance.  We work on a wide range of projects from both the public and private sector.

Sustainable development sits at the heart of our business.  We develop strong working relationships with our clients in order to integrate these principles into all aspects of our work. 

Our service provision focuses on landscape ecology, planning and urban sustainability.  Specific products include sustainability appraisal, strategic environmental assessment, green infrastructure planning, landscape assessment, habitats regulations assessment, landscape ecology and expert witness. 

OUR PROJECTS

Lepus works across the UK with a range of different clients.  See below for a selection of recent projects.

LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT FOR SOUTH OXFORDSHIRE
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HABITATS REGULATIONS ASSESSMENT FOR WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL'S LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN
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SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL FOR THE BLACK COUNTRY JOINT LOCAL PLAN
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GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE STUDY FOR THE PARTNERSHIP FOR URBAN SOUTH HAMPSHIRE (PUSH)
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"Lepus have assisted Workham and our partners on a variety of different projects. The team have always been proactive and responsive to our needs and provided practical advice and solutions."

Dominic White, Workham Property Group
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LATEST NEWS

Our news page will provide you with a flavour of the views, news and other relevant information about current thinking on environmental planning and sustainable place making. Take a look below, or see our news page.

By Poppy O'Riordan May 21, 2024
COMPILATION AND REVIEW OF EVIDENCE LEADING TO SANG AND SAMM PROVISION Natural England has published a report which provides a review of methods and evidence published about recreational impacts on European protected sites and the solutions for their mitigation. This report was produced by the team at Lepus Consulting who worked closely with Natural England to deliver this study. Development, and specifically housing growth, has the potential to increase public recreation and disturbance pressures at some of the most ecologically sensitive sites across the country. European and Ramsar sites are designated for a number of qualifying habitats and species of international importance and are particularly vulnerable to recreational pressure. Currently, the impacts of these pressures are addressed at European designated sites through the adoption of mitigating actions referred to as strategic solutions. The aim is to divert recreational pressure to an alternative location by providing Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) and/or to address recreational impacts on site through the adoption of Strategic Access Management and Monitoring (SAMM) measures. SANG and SAMM often work in parallel with one another. The study reviews 16 Local Planning Authority case studies, to produce a series of recommendations designed to ensure a process of best practice is followed for identifying, designing, and securing recreational mitigation. These include: maintenance of a robust and periodically updated evidence base, an established ZOI, a partnership approach, communication with site users, a consistent and comprehensive monitoring strategy and linking mitigation solutions with wider initiatives such as Green Infrastructure, Local Nature Recovery Networks and Biodiversity Net Gain amongst others. To read the full article please visit the Natural England website: https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6015060338802688
July 26, 2023
CIEEM 2023 SMALL CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES Following being shortlisted by the CIEEM panel for the 2023 Small Consultancy of the Year Award, the Lepus Team attended the awards ceremony at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for an evening hosted by CIEEM. After listening to some incredibly innovative work being carried out across the country by fellow practitioners, and some engaging discussion about BNG opportunities within the UK, we were awarded 'commended' in our field. This award recognises consultancies which deliver high quality ecological services and are an exemplar employer and advocate for the profession. To be chosen by the panel and awarded a commended position is a real testament to the hard work of our team over the year. Roll on 2024!
July 26, 2023
ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES REPORTS - AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) will see that existing EU-generated Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) are transformed into new, government-created Environmental Outcomes Reports (EORs). Part 6 of the LURB is currently awaiting royal assent which will likely be granted later this year. Regulations and piloting will then take place in 2024, and the bill likely rolled out in 2025. The main aim of this Bill is to make environmental assessment more efficient, whilst ensuring overall environmental protection is not reduced. Plans and projects will have to report against a set of given environmental outcomes with supporting indicators. Why move away from EIAs and SEAs? Environmental assessment has become too broad Significant amounts of documentation under current regime (becomes impenetrable and disengages local communities) Significant variance in indicators and datasets within assessments Current environmental assessment regime contains inherent element of uncertainty Lack of access to robust and consistent data Lack of monitoring and forecasting impacts or mitigation What makes EORs more efficient than previously used EIAs and SEAs? Scoping will report proportionally against outcomes and be submitted as part of the EOR to save time with the local authority scoping process. Scoping reports will assess alternatives earlier to reduce confusion and will follow a more outcome-based approach. They will include an assessment of how matters raised can be monitored and mitigated There are, however, concerns around EORs and the potential for them to become more of a burden rather than an improvement to the original system. There are a number of things that should be considered before the Bill is rolled out in full force, such as: Can we implement adaptive management to allow mitigation to be adjusted in response to greater certainty on effects following implementation? If EORs are not able to address cumulative effects of climate change, what measures will be in place to ensure this issue is picked up elsewhere? How will monitoring across local councils and development bodies be better resourced? Some of these questions arose in a webinar on EORs hosted by the Planning Advisory Service. It is promising that questions are being asked, as this encourages solutions to be actively sought. Hopefully, when the Bill comes into effect, we will see positive environmental outcomes and assessments will be more efficient than under the old regime. The Lepus team consists of highly experienced SA practitioners and as such we have taken a keen interest in these developments and have contributed to the governments consultations in order to shape the emerging legislation. For more information on EORs please contact our technical team at enquiries@lepusconsulting.com . Our team can provide advice on the likely transition times for the new legislation, alongside specialist advice targeted to your requirements.

LET'S TALK

Lepus helps shape effective and appropriate environmental planning policy for our clients by delivering products that are meaningful, sound and insightful. 

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