RECREATIONAL DISTURBANCE TRAINING FOR NATURAL ENGLAND
Natural England provides advice to applicants and statutory decision makers on the potential impacts of development proposals on the natural environment. A key part of their statutory remit concerns impacts to national and international designated sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Ramsars which are often impacted by recreational activities causing recreational disturbance.
Recreational disturbance refers to someone taking part in a recreational activity that causes a change in behaviour of wildlife, damage to habitat or physical harm or death of wildlife.
In this capacity, the Natural England East Midlands Area Team sought bespoke training on recreational disturbance in order to aid their casework handling. Lepus has worked closely with the team to deliver a comprehensive training plan which included a morning session of classroom-based learning, followed by a site walkover and Q&A session.
All attendees took part in a site visit to Sherwood Forest (SSSI and SAC) which allowed for the practical application of key learnings with commentary covering topics discussed in the classroom-based session.
Supplementary training materials were provided to aid with the continued application of key learnings, allowing the team to quickly identify potential disturbance impacts from different types of development and suggest ways of mitigating impacts where applicable.
Lepus is available to deliver training in recreational disturbance for your organisation and can deliver a package which is tailored to your organisations specific needs, or locality.
Please contact enquiries@lepusconsulting.com to discuss
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