Ellesmere Port Habitat Bank, Cheshire

Local planning authority (LPA): Cheshire West and Chester Council

National Character Area (NCA): Mersey Valley

Biodiversity Units available:

To be confirmed

Less than 30 miles from Liverpool, our Ellesmere Port Habitat Bank covers around 30 hectares of land where our work is helping to connect habitats between Bridge Trafford and Mickle Trafford. In collaboration with the landowner, we'll be restoring the landscape and using sustainable livestock grazing to help local ecosystems thrive.

Following a thorough assessment of the site's vegetation, wildlife, geology, hydrology, soil chemistry, management history, and landscape connectivity, we determined the best possible habitats to establish and made sure these enhancements would be deliverable. We established an ecological baseline for the site using Defra’s biodiversity metric, so we can clearly demonstrate biodiversity gains over time.

This assessment enables us to generate a range of high-integrity Biodiversity Unit habitat types that will ensure robust ecological outcomes. We also offer planning support to make sure our Biodiversity Units provide an effective local BNG delivery solution for developers within the Cheshire West and Chester Council LPA area or Mersey Valley NCA. Our Units are ready to purchase now, subject to availability.

Adjacent LPAs for cross-boundary coverage:

Wirral Council
Shropshire Council
Liverpool City Council
Cheshire East Council
Halton Borough Council
Warrington Borough Council

Adjacent NCAs for cross-boundary coverage:

Wirral
Merseyside Conurbation
Manchester Conurbation
Lancashire Coal Measures
Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire Plain

At our Ellesmere Port Habitat Bank, we’re transforming the previous pasture and arable fields into a rich mix of habitats including native mixed scrub, wildflower grassland, and ponds.

Each habitat aims to encourage important flora and fauna to flourish – from the native woodlands designed to support bats, newts, and badgers, to the fruit tree orchards that we hope will attract pollinating insects, to the ponds that will become home to a variety of aquatic vegetation and amphibians.

Our ecologists plan for this site’s floodplain marshland is to support bird species of special conservation status as the local area is noted for breeding and wintering birds.

We are also enhancing the grassland to become far more species-rich while extending the existing woodland to become a suitable haven for a diverse range of wildlife. We are especially keen to attract protected bird and invertebrate species through our site’s new habitats.