Dunstable Habitat Bank

County: Bedfordshire
Local planning authority (LPA): Central Bedfordshire Council
National Character Area (NCA): Chilterns

Birds-eye render of Dunstable Habitat Bank before restoration

Biodiversity Units

Very high distinctiveness habitats

Lowland meadows

High distinctiveness habitats

Traditional orchards
Species-rich native hedgerow with trees

Medium distinctiveness habitats

Mixed scrub

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Habitat Bank overview

Less than ten miles from Luton, we’re transforming almost 55 acres of land into a biodiverse space to connect habitats surrounding the site and across the wider landscape – including parcels of priority deciduous and ancient woodland.

Dunstable Habitat Bank has been strategically placed amongst key areas for biodiversity so we can have a large-scale impact, creating habitats carefully designed to help a broad range of wildlife.

BNG delivery

At every Habitat Bank, we always look at the land to determine what can be achieved from the very start. Our biodiversity experts assess the soil, wildlife, vegetation, geology, hydrology, management history, and connectivity across the local landscape.

We take a baseline for each Habitat Bank using the statutory biodiversity metric. We carefully select the best possible habitats for us to establish so we can deliver and demonstrate measurable biodiversity gains over time.

Coverage

Biodiversity Units from Dunstable Habitat Bank offer an effective local off-site BNG solution for the Central Bedfordshire Council LPA area and the Chilterns NCA. They also provide adjacent coverage to the LPAs and NCAs listed below.

Adjacent LPAs	Adjacent NCAs
Luton Borough Council	Thames Valley
Bedford Borough Council	East Anglian Chalk
Buckinghamshire Council	Thames Basin Heaths
Milton Keynes City Council	Northern Thames Basin
Dacorum Borough Council	Upper Thames Clay Vales
North Herefordshire Council	Berkshire and Marlborough Downs
Huntingdonshire District Council	South Suffolk and North Essex Clayland
St Albans City and District Council	Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands
South Cambridgeshire District Council

Our vision

Dunstable Habitat Bank sits within the Natural England Chalks & Chilterns Priority Focus Area and the Chilterns National Landscape. It’s also very close to the Kensworth Chalk Pit Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Our ecologists are working in close collaboration with the landowners to create and enhance meadows, orchards, and scrub. We’ve incorporated the landowners’ herd of Dutch spotted sheep into our management plan, and they’ll gently graze the meadows to encourage greater diversity in wildflowers.

We’re creating habitats that will support a variety of important species native to the area, including hazel dormouse, yellow wagtail, common lizard, and slow worm. Over time, we hope to see an increasing number of these species as they make their home at Dunstable Habitat Bank.

Two public footpaths cross the Habitat Bank, so we’re pleased that people from the local community will also get to enjoy the space as biodiversity increases in the coming decades.