A RESTORATION project on the Lizard Peninsula was held up as a beacon of excellence at a Truro conference concerning development and changes in environmental law.

The large-scale habitat restoration at Mawgan Habitat Bank was top of the agenda at the event on April 2, hosted by Environment Bank in partnership with South West Water, to discuss how Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules are changing development across Cornwall.

Corporates, developers, planners, local authority representatives, ecologists and environmental consultants gathered to discuss how the new law is being implemented in Cornwall.

Developers are required by law under the Environment Act 2021 to ensure all significant developments deliver a minimum 10 per cent increase in biodiversity. One way of doing this is by purchasing Biodiversity Units from Habitat Banks created off-site and managed for 30 years by Environment Bank’s ecologists, who measure the uplift in biodiversity and sell it in the form of “Biodiversity Units” so developers can meet the new law and gain planning permission.

Environment Bank’s national network of some 50 BNG sites covers almost 3,500 acres of land, unlocking more than 9,000 off-site Biodiversity Units. Mawgan Habitat Bank will generate a range of high-integrity Biodiversity Units, providing an effective local off-site BNG option within the Cornwall Council local planning authority (LPA) area and the Lizard National Character Area (NCA).

Mawgan Habitat Bank aims to reconnect wildlife corridors across The Lizard, revive declining species, restore local plant communities and reconnect fragmented habitats across this landscape. New native broadleaved woodland is currently being planted in King’s Field to strengthen ecological connectivity with the neighbouring ancient woodland of Trelowarren Woods County Wildlife Site (CWS), and to provide vital shelter and resources for woodland birds, butterflies, bats and wider wildlife.

The planting will introduce a rich mix of locally appropriate species and reconnect fragmented habitats, and a herd of traditional Hereford cattle, owned by a local grazier, will undertake conservation grazing across the restored habitats.

Victoria Vyvyan, landowner of Mawgan Habitat Bank and the Trelowarren estate – and deputy president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) - said: “The history of the Trelowarren estate goes back to before the Iron Age, which makes it such a great place to begin biodiversity improvements for the next generation. The Lizard is a special part of Cornwall, with such important habitats. I’m so proud of this project.”

Annie Green, senior ecologist with Environment Bank, said: “The Mawgan Habitat Bank will deliver habitat restoration at scale, providing a significant wildlife corridor stretching from Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at the northern edge of the Lizard Peninsula, to The Lizard National Nature Reserve (NNR) and Goonhilly Downs SSSI in the centre.

“We will see the establishment of a wide variety of habitats valuable for biodiversity, allowing local invertebrate, bird, bat and reptile populations to thrive. We will undertake extensive heathland restoration works, using the heath of The Lizard NNR as a local seed source to establish a thriving population of heathland species including Cornish Heath Erica vagans.”