The biodiversity checklist is the first ecology document most Northern Ireland planning applications need. Corry Ecology completes it in the format councils expect, with a desk study and a site visit behind it so the answers can be relied on.
The NI Biodiversity Checklist (Version 2, April 2017) is the standard screening form used by Northern Ireland councils to decide whether a proposal is likely to affect protected habitats or species. It is completed by a suitably qualified person and submitted with the planning application.
It is a screening exercise, not a full survey. Its job is to answer one question: does this site need further ecological work before the council can determine the application? Where the answer is no, a properly evidenced checklist can close the ecology question off entirely.
If a case officer has already asked you for a checklist, send the request over with the site address and I can tell you quickly what is involved.
Every checklist includes a desk study of the designated sites, priority habitats and protected species records around the site, a walkover of the site itself, and a completed checklist with supporting justification for each answer.
Where the checklist triggers a further requirement — most commonly a bat scoping survey or a fuller ecological statement — you get a clear explanation of what that means, what it costs and when in the year it can be done, before anything else is commissioned.
Most checklists are turned around within one to two weeks of the site visit, and site visits in the Omagh, Cookstown, Strabane and Enniskillen area can usually be arranged quickly. The checklist itself is not season-dependent, so it can be started at any time of year.
The checklist should be completed by someone with appropriate ecological knowledge and experience. Corry Ecology is run by John Corry, a current member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science.
Not usually. The checklist is a screening step. Many sites are screened out at that point with no further survey needed. Where it does flag something — most often bats or nesting birds — the checklist explains exactly what further work is required and why.
It depends on the site, the proposal and the travel involved, so quotes are given per site rather than from a price list. Send the site address and a short description of the proposal and you will get a fixed quote before any work starts.
Yes. The desk study and site walkover behind the checklist are not restricted by season. Only certain follow-on surveys, such as bat emergence surveys, are limited to particular months.
Areas covered: Omagh · Cookstown · Enniskillen · Derry / Londonderry · Strabane · Dungannon
Send the site address and a short description and I'll come back with a quote and a likely timescale.
