Improving biodiversity alongside supporting business can be a complex and tricky business. Planning and development are essential to the strength of Warwickshire's economy. Safeguarding and improving biodiversity throughout the county is essential to all our futures. Marrying up these two great objectives, so that both are achieved, can be a complicated business, but it is a high priority. Alscot is no stranger to balancing business, adapting with the times to generate income streams and encourage commerce, whilst protecting the surrounding countryside, for future generations.

In a landmark deal, Alscot Biodiversity Project, one of the first ventures of its kind in the UK, obtained a license from Warwickshire County Council, to offer biodiversity offsetting units to developers. Put very simply, biodiversity offsetting is where conservation activities, such as the creation of species habitats, compensate for biodiversity loss, in a measurable way. This means economic activity can occur and the environment can continue to flourish.

The need for receptor sites as part of the Biodiversity Offsetting scheme within Warwickshire provided an opportunity for a new enterprise which is sympathetic to the landscape objectives for The Estate. Biodiversity Net Gain, farming and its Property & Development practices, will run in tandem with other non-commercial interests, such as Woodland and Parkland Management, and the overall vision to operate and deliver at carbon zero by 2050.

As one of the first projects of its type in the country, it has attracted much interest, including that of Government officials working to mitigate the effects of HS2 and Rebecca Pow MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Now in its second successful year, Alscot’s strategic plan aims to see the company extend its Biodiversity land in the project, with a second phase, protecting and creating further wildlife corridors.