Bingfield Habitat Bank

County: Northumberland
Local planning authority (LPA): Northumberland County Council
National Character Area (NCA): Mid Northumberland
Biodiversity gain sites register number: BGS-101024001

Birds-eye render of Bingfield Habitat Bank before restoration

Very high distinctiveness habitats

Lowland meadows

High distinctiveness habitats

Ponds (priority habitat)

Medium distinctiveness habitats

Mixed scrub
Other neutral grassland
Ponds (non-priority habitat)

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Habitat Bank overview

Our Bingfield Habitat Bank covers a space of 20 hectares approximately 25km northwest of Newcastle city centre where we are creating an incredible site for nature recovery.

There, we are establishing rich wildflower meadows and native scrubland to provide a home for a variety of native flora and fauna.

BNG delivery

At each of our Habitat Banks, our team assesses the land at the very start to maximise our biodiversity uplift. During this process we look at the site’s existing wildlife and vegetation, geological features, hydrology, extended management history, and its wider connectivity in the region.

Then, using the statutory biodiversity metric, we take a baseline for each Habitat Bank. Our team carefully considers the land and decides on the best possible habitats that will deliver and demonstrate resilient and adaptable biodiversity gains over our thirty-year management period.

Neighbouring LPAs
Durham County Council
North Tyneside Council
Newcastle City Council
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council
Cumberland Council
Northumberland National Park Authority
Westmorland and Furness Council

Neighbouring NCAs
Tyne and Wear Lowlands
South East Northumberland Coastal Plain
Tyne Gap and Hadrian’s Wall
Northumberland Sandstone Hills
North Northumberland Coastal Plain

Our vision

The site will become two vast lowland hay meadows, transforming the land from heavily grazed pasture with relatively low biodiversity into a thriving haven supporting a diverse mixture of native grasses and broad-leaved herbs.

The Habitat Bank will be subject to traditional meadow management practices and closed to livestock across the flowering season each year. This will allow locally uncommon wildflowers to flourish and the diversity of the sward to improve year on year.

The northern area of the Habitat Bank lies adjacent to a flood zone. By improving the soil health so that it can retain more water, the landscape’s resilience will be enhanced against the effects of climate change and flood events.

Equally, the site lies adjacent to neighbouring ponds and woodland parcels. This means that the new habitats we are creating will build vital local ecological connectivity, allowing species to disperse and populations to thrive. This will include great crested newt and brown hare.

Scrubland creation will provide ideal nesting habitat for a variety of birds including locally declining farmland species. The site is known to already support a variety of invertebrates, and the design of the Habitat Bank will support them by providing suitable habitats and connectivity with the surrounding area.