Environmental Mitigation and Compensation

al gains. Policy DS.1 Environmental Mitigation and Compensation Development proposals should apply a proportionate mitigation hierarchy to potential environmental effects. A. Mitigation Hierarchy Development proposals will be expected to: • avoid adverse environmental effects wherever possible; • minimise and mitigate impacts where avoidance cannot reasonably be achieved; and • provide compensation measures only as a last resort where significant residual effects remain following avoidance and mitigation. The application of the mitigation hierarchy should be proportionate to the scale, nature and significance of the potential impact and informed by appropriate evidence. B. Compensation Measures Compensation measures will only be supported where it has been clearly demonstrated that: • avoidance and mitigation are not reasonably achievable; • residual effects cannot otherwise be satisfactorily addressed; and • the proposed compensation measures are appropriate, deliverable, secured and capable of effective long-term management. Where appropriate, compensation and off-site measures should align with local environmental priorities, including: • the Warwickshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy; • the Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull Green Infrastructure Strategy; and • the South Warwickshire Green and Blue Infrastructure and Open Space Study. DS.1 ~ Development Management Considerations This Policy does not override statutory or national policy tests, including biodiversity, heritage, flood risk, and other environmental safeguards. Policy Justification 2.2.9 This policy ensures that development delivers environmental net gain and manages impacts on natural assets and ecosystem services in a proportionate, evidence-based way. Natural assets are elements of nature (e.g. trees, ponds, hedges) that work together to provide an ecosystem service. Ecosystem services are natural processes that have wider benefits to people and the economy, such as providing cleaner air, reducing flood risk cleaning water and providing carbon storage. 2.2.10 It applies the mitigation hierarchy from the National Planning Policy Framework which requires development to avoid, reduce, and, only as a last resort, compensate for significant environmental impacts. While the NPPF focuses on biodiversity, this policy extends the same approach to other environmental assets, including green infrastructure, landscape, and ecosystem services, where consistent with national policy. Councils in Warwickshire are supporting local ecosystem service markets to provide a coordinated approach to compensation. Applicants will be expected to demonstrate that they have considered these mechanisms to deliver measurable environmental benefits. 2.2.11 Compensation can be provided on-site or off-site and should align with local priorities including the Warwickshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull Green Infrastructure Strategy, and the South Warwick