Wildlife: Bridges

(asked on 1st April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken in response to Natural England's report, Green bridges: safer travel for wildlife, published July 2015; and if he will make it his policy to identify appropriate sites for green bridges in England.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 21st April 2021

The Natural England report reviewed 53 case studies and found evidence that, in the majority of cases, green bridges were used by wildlife, although further studies were needed. Guidance on the design of green bridges, based on this review, was published in December 2015 by the Landscape Institute.

Green bridges are increasingly being used as part of transport infrastructure projects to help connect habitats. For example, a green bridge was built as part of the A556 Knutsford to Bowdon improvement scheme, and the A303 Stonehenge and Lower Thames Crossing schemes both include plans for several green bridges.

HS2 has been designed with a view to avoiding or reducing impacts on habitats and species, and to create a green corridor for wildlife along its length. Between London and the West Midlands, 16 green bridges are currently planned, as well as underpasses to provide safe crossing points for bats and other wildlife.

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