Cycle Greenway Impact Assessment – West Yorkshire

Client – Sustrans

Key Services – Impact Assessment

Duration – 2015 to 2021

Project Overview – Habitat and Protected Species surveys for Castleford to Wakefield Greenway

Ecological Input – Haycock and Jay Associates were commissioned to undertake habitat and protected species surveys for Sustrans for the ~4.6km Castleford to Wakefield Greenway in West Yorkshire.

The Castleford to Wakefield Greenway fills a gap in existing infrastructure which, with the final phase now nearing completion, will create a 16km cycle route linking Castleford, Wakefield, the Trans Pennine Trail and the Wakefield Wheel, forming a key route in the National Cycle Network in Yorkshire.

Since 2015 our Ecologists undertook Preliminary Ecological Appraisals, great crested newt surveys, bat emergence and re-entry surveys, invasive plant species surveys and water vole surveys along four different phases of the route.

Outcomes – The results of these surveys were used to inform comprehensive Construction Environmental Management Plans (CEMPs) and Biodiversity Enhancement & Management Plans (BEMPs) for the different phases, ensuring the protection of important ecological features and wildlife during construction of the new cycleway, and laying down a five-year plan of action for the management of habitats along the route.

The greenway was constructed in four phases, with each requiring a suite of habitat and protected species surveys to ensure the creation of the new cycle route did not impact upon the local wildlife.