Rail provider to improve biodiversity

Network Rail has launched its first net-positive biodiversity offset scheme in south London

The project, part of the Thameslink programme, involves London Wildlife Trust, Lambeth Council and consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff and aims to help restore parts of the Great North Wood, an oak forest that stretched from Croydon in the south to Camberwell in the north but which had largely disappeared by 1900.

The scheme will see native species of trees and shrubs planted at Streatham Common and Brockwell Park.

The project applies Defra’s new metric for calculating biodiversity loss and the level of compensation needed, and has been named by the environment department as an offsetting demonstration project.