In support of the governement's Natural Environment White Paper 2011 (England), North Devon's Biosphere Reserve has been chosen to be one of the small handfull of pilot areas in England to test approaches to Biodiversity Offsetting.
Offsetting is not a licence to trash. The partnership in the Biosphere Reserve regards the offsetting as thye last step in a design process that reduces as far as apossible any biodiversity loss arising from developments. Developers are asked to offset the residual loss of any development. The offsets are invested into creating or restoring habitats according to a spatial strategy that will ensure coherent ecolcogical networks for resilience. More information on the Defra website.