Guide to Habitat Restoration

What is habitat restoration? 

Habitat restoration is the process of remaking or repairing specific types of landscape in order to promote particular ecosystems. It can involve reforesting, returning drained areas to being wetland, and ceasing activities that are destroying a habitat.

The UK government is committed to native habitats that have been decimated by years of development. The Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) initiative requires developers to not only protect existing habitats on their sites, but to achieve a 10% net gain. This requires some habitat restoration. 

Without restoration, the nation’s society and economy face substantial risks. That’s the stark warning from Natural England’s State of Nature report in 2024.

It highlights that our natural capital is in a perilous state. Unless action is taken, the poor state of nature could lead to more flooding, higher urban temperatures and threats to our food supply through the ongoing loss of bees and other pollinators.

Why landowners and developers need to understand habitat restoration

Only the smallest development projects, and some special cases, are exempt from the BNG 10% requirement. Even those that are exempt can still include elements to protect, and indeed restore, natural habitats, and many small-scale developers choose to do this. 

Even where no development is planned, landowners may choose to restore habitats in order to create biodiversity units. These units (not the land itself) can be sold to developers to help meet their BNG obligations.  

There’s more to restoring habitats than planting trees, installing bee bricks and planting meadow flowers on traffic islands. While these are all good things to do, they’re often not part of a comprehensive plan to restore ecosystems. 

There’s an official biodiversity metric, which is used to measure the biodiversity value of an area. The government provides a statutory biodiversity metric calculation tool.

Why habitat restoration is important

For every 100 wildflower meadows in Britain in the 1930s, less than three remain. That’s a startling loss of over 97%. This is just one example of the many habitats that have been decimated over recent decades.

Every hectare of meadow, lowland bog, and ancient woodland is a haven of biodiversity. It’s good that the government is acting to protect what’s left, but there’s an acknowledged need to restore some of what’s been lost.

The benefits of habitat restoration include:

• Increase in species and genetic diversity.
• Protection for endangered species.
• Allowing extinct species to be reintroduced.
• Improving the health of neighbouring ecosystems.

The value of biodiversity cannot be overstated. Human health, well-being and physical security depend on the myriad of largely invisible plants and creatures, many of which have been lost through habitat destruction.

Examples of habitat restoration

Fenland restoration

The Great Fen, between Peterborough and Cambridge, is the site of one of the largest restoration projects of its kind in Europe. Fields that were used for arable farming are being restored to wetlands, but it’s a slow process. Years of soil enrichment need to be reduced to support the wild plants native to the area. The restoration work involves controlled grazing, hay cutting and the improvement of watercourses.

River restoration

In the London Borough of Lewisham the Ravensbourne river is being restored to a more natural state. This includes replacing concreted river channels, re-profiling the banks to a more natural appearance. Ponds, backwaters and meanders have been reintroduced, giving space for different species of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants and insects. 

A flood alleviation scheme on a tributary river involved creating space for water to go without damaging property. The development also made the area more attractive for people to visit and better for wildlife.

Heathland, woodland and wetland restoration

The Purple Horizons project in the Walsall and Staffordshire area is restoring a mix of connected habitats, including the largest remaining heathland in the Midlands. 

Working with farmers, landowners and conservation groups, it encourages action such as planting hedgerows, restoring wildflower meadows, and improving soil health. The result is the return of rare pollinators, such as the Tormentil Mining Bee, and local crops are seeing an increase in pollination rates.

Wildlife corridors

Habitats with a diverse ecology did not develop in isolation from the landscape around them. However, Britain has become a fragmented patchwork of pockets of diverse habitats, separated by roads, railways, buildings and modern agriculture. These barriers make it hard for plants, animals and insects to move between one habitat and another.

Wildlife corridors help to address this problem. They provide an environment that gives wildlife space to move about. In the Heart of England Forest, the creation of wildlife corridors is a priority. This includes planting trees, and proactively using hedgerows, rivers and streams to connect one habitat area with another.

Planning for habitat restoration

These are some of the actions and issues to take into consideration when planning to restore a habitat.

Identify stakeholders: Changing the nature of a landscape will impact others, and there may be legal implications. There may be a need for external advice and guidance. It’s important to be clear about who should be involved or consulted, including the local community, government bodies and relevant non-profit organisations.

Ecological assessment: The current condition of the landscape must be studied by someone with the relevant ecological expertise. They will identify how much of the native biodiversity survives and identify opportunities for restoration. 

Project design: This defines the goal of the restoration project and the steps needed to achieve it. It sets out the scale of the work, both geographically and in duration, and the resources required.

Local community: People living in and around the area will have opinions about change. It can’t be assumed that everyone will be in favour of restoring an area to a more natural state. Even when the principle of increasing biodiversity is accepted, there may be differing views on how to achieve it, particularly if the proposed restoration involves losing more recent ecologies. For example, restoring a wetland could involve flooding areas with mature trees.

Time: Restoring or repairing a lost or damaged habitat takes considerable time and resources. Some native habitats, such as ancient woodlands, have taken centuries to develop and there’s no quick fix for bringing them back.

Where to get help with habitat restoration

Because of the urgent need to restore our natural capital, there’s an increasing number of habitat restoration projects underway across Britain. Now that developers are required to factor biodiversity net gain into their projects, the rate of restoration should accelerate.

The growth in projects to boost biodiversity has also increased the resources available to help plan and deliver restoration initiatives. These include:

• Funding such as Countryside Stewardship grants, and finance from the National Lottery.
• Government handbooks setting out best practices for certain types of restoration.
• Habitat management and monitoring plan templates from Natural England.

Resources specifically aimed at developers considering their responsibilities for achieving biodiversity net gain include:

• The statutory biodiversity metric tools and guides.
• Planning practice guidance on biodiversity net gain.
• Step-by-step flowcharts for biodiversity net gain for land managers.
• Digital aids, such as Joe’s Blooms Biodiversity Net Gain Tool and Exemption Checker.

A habitat restoration project will usually need the input of a trained ecologist or, for smaller initiatives, someone with relevant experience and knowledge. The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management is setting standards for professional competence and conduct for those involved in ecological and environmental management.

Joe’s Blooms and habitat restoration

We are committed to improving biodiversity across the country. In particular, we help planning applicants comply with the biodiversity net gain regulations in England. Compliance typically requires elements of habitat protection, repair or restoration. 

Thousands of people have used our digital tools to help them produce biodiversity metric sheets and habitat plans. Many have chosen to do this, even though they’re exempt from the requirement to boost biodiversity by at least 10%.

In our 100 detailed case studies of planning applications that used our tools, the biodiversity net gain was 28% – well over the required 10%.

We also provide biodiversity net gain consulting to help developers, homeowners and architects meet their obligations under the new rules.  

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Sources include:

State of Natural Capital Report for England 2024, Natural England

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nationally-important-wildflower-grasslands-get-increased-protection

https://www.greatfen.org.uk/

https://www.therrc.co.uk/demonstration-projects-0 & https://www.restorerivers.eu/wiki/images/5/55/A_River_Reborn_-_Quaggy.pdf

https://www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/purplehorizons

https://heartofenglandforest.org/news/why-are-wildlife-corridors-important

https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants

 https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/our-work/landscapes-parks-nature/habitats-species

https://defraenvironment.blog.gov.uk/2023/12/01/natural-englands-habitat-management-and-monitoring-plan-templates-guest-natural-england-blog-mike-burke-head-of-sustainable-development/

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-biodiversity-metric-tools-and-guides

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/biodiversity-net-gain

https://cieem.net/about-cieem/what-we-do/