Biodiversity

The issue: Operating and developing airports can have a number of impacts on biodiversity. As a land owner, one of the biggest aspects we have to consider is the direct impact on local wildlife through our land management practices or when we redevelop land.

Recognising and respecting these impacts is important to growing our business sustainably and is also an important part of our work with local communities to whom natural green spaces and associated wildlife bring valuable socio-economic benefits.

Our approach: We seek to operate and expand our business in accordance with the good-practice principles for business and biodiversity published by the UK roundtable for sustainable development in 1997.

This means first understanding what habitats and wildlife are around the airport and the key effects of our operations. For development proposals we adopt the principles of independent Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) to determine the value of existing ecological resources. We then create biodiversity action plans that include stakeholder concerns in any development decisions made. The EcIA and action plans support long-term local ecological value by minimising, mitigating or, as a last resort, compensating for any significant loss of biodiversity. Complementary to this process, we also recognise that some of the land we own can be managed to contribute to the preservation of local biodiversity. This is achieved through the development of management plans for those sites that can be set aside for wildlife-sensitive management.

Biodiversity programmes at airports are by necessity constrained by the need to ensure aircraft safety against birdstrike as a highest priority. Many steps are taken to suppress biodiversity on the airfield in order to reduce attractiveness to birds, including control of wild flowers, reduction of soil-dwelling insects, management of grass length and sward quality. We have ongoing programmes to monitor and disperse birds.

We are also working with our supply chain to develop tools to favour suppliers who manage their impacts on the environment, including biodiversity.

During 2006 we commited to an independent audit against the requirements of the Wildlife Trust’s Biodiversity Benchmark award scheme. Heathrow previously held the Biodiversity Benchmark award in 2004 but the scheme requirements have subsequently been tightened and levels of achievement are being independently re-evaluated. The audit has already helped identify a number of areas for improving our approach to managing biodiversity and we are now working to implement those improvements.

Our performance:
Target 2006/07: 100% implementation of the Heathrow biodiversity strategy action plan for 2006/07.
Performance against target:  Some progress made.

Of the 28 actions either due or ongoing during 2006/07, 14 were fully achieved; eight were partially discharged and six not implemented. Although this falls short of full achievement across the strategy there has been steady progress against our overall aim to make a positive contribution towards supporting the local biodiversity agenda.

Developing key performance indicators (KPI’s)
Our KPI’s are currently based on ‘area of BAA land managed for conservation’ and ‘number of active conservation management plans’. At Heathrow our area of conservation land remains at 62.5 hectares and we have eight site management plans. A number of species action plans are also under development.

Heathrow conservation site management plans
In response to the ongoing Wildlife Trust’s Biodiversity Benchmark audit we have started to review and update many of our site-specific management plans to improve links between site importance criteria and site-specific management objectives. The delivery of our management plan actions continues to be driven and recorded using our bespoke biodiversity database. However, while site plans are revised there has been a reduction in the site activity programme.

We continued a programme started in 2005 to treat Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) with herbicide within several of our sites. This invasive introduced plant is now recognised as a serious and persistent national threat which spreads to form extensive dense clumps that displace native plant communities. The level of success from our treatment regime has been very encouraging and we aim to reduce or eliminate Japanese Knotweed from our sites over the next few years to improve opportunities for native species.

In May 2006, we undertook a wild flower planting project at one of our community green space sites called Two Bridges Farm. Small plug plants of cowslips (Primula veris), along with other wild flower species, were introduced amongst the existing grass sward. Unfortunately a period of low rainfall soon after planting exposed the plugs to severe drought stress. Despite these pressures, surveys carried out in spring 2007 have confirmed that around 10% of the cowslip plugs have survived. Other species will be monitored later in the summer.

Ecological surveying at Heathrow is also being reviewed in line with our ongoing management plan revisions. Some survey activities have been suspended pending the revised plans but a range of internal and external surveys have continued as part of the Heathrow ecological monitoring framework (EMF) including:

• Spider and ground-dwelling beetle surveys at the Causeway Nature Reserve, Two Bridges Farm and Mayfield Farm up to August 2006
• Seasonal aquatic invertebrate surveys carried out at Clockhouse Lane Pit, River Crane and Wraysbury River
• Grass snake (Natrix natrix) surveys at the Causeway Nature Reserve
• Standardised bird surveys at the Causeway Nature Reserve, Camp 4, Spout Lane Lagoon and Mayfield Farm
• Light-trapping for moths at the Mayfield Farm reed-bed site as part of a national moth monitoring programme
• Vegetation and fisheries development within the Heathrow diverted channels of the Duke of Northumberland and Longford rivers.

Enhancing biodiversity off airport
Terminal 5 Colne Valley enhancement works have progressed through the first stage of restoration, including 1600 metres of mixed native hedgerow, 1,700 native woodland structure plants and 50 large trees. A piece of land at the far eastern extremity of the airport, known as Eastside Compound, which was a former contractor's depot has been restored to the condition of an enclosed field. BAA Heathrow is handing this over to the London Wildlife Trust to manage.

We have also continued to engage larger multi-stakeholder projects such as the Crane Valley Partnershp (CVP), formerly the River Crane Management Forum, which aims to unite and coordinate private, public and voluntary sector commitment to enhance the River Crane channel and improve access for the local community.

In January 2007, we launched a small-scale internal project to grow local provenance plant material for use within Heathrow or neighbouring conservation sites. For the pilot scheme Hazel cuttings were taken from nearby Cranford Park, in cooperation with London Borough of Hounslow who own the site. Again low rainfall during March and April 2007 severely stressed the cuttings, but it is hoped that some new plants will be established. This year we hope to broaden the scheme to grow other woodland plants from genuine, historically-viable local sources.

Working with local authorities and local nature groups
We have continued to support the London Borough of Hounslow local biodiversity action plan (LBAP) by attending the quarterly steering groups and providing valuable habitat information from our sites.

Our plans: To progress our application for the Wildlife Trust’s Biodiversity Benchmark Award at Heathrow and Stansted.

This single action will provide independent endorsement of our effort and multiple achievements to support local biodiversity objectives through the management of our direct land-holdings.

We also intend to continue towards 100% implementation of the existing biodiversity strategy action plan during 2007. Through this wider goal we aim to increase our understanding of business impacts on biodiversity and improve our contribution to reversing the decline in biodiversity.