The RSPB, in conjunction with Devon County Council, Teignbridge District Council and Torbay Council, has produced a new guidance note for built developments affecting cirl buntings in Devon.
Cirl buntings are an attractive and iconic Devon species. Once widespread across southern England, changes in farming practice resulted, by the late 1980s, in almost the entire UK population being restricted to South Devon.
The guidance includes sequential steps to determine whether a proposal is likely to harm a cirl bunting territory, appropriate avoidance, mitigation, compensation and enhancement measures and, if compensation is needed, its form, scale and delivery.
A developer needing to deliver compensation shall ordinarily make a financial contribution to the relevant LPA, to pool with other such contributions and deliver strategic off-site cirl bunting nature reserves.
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