A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA), or a 'walkover' survey, is a general, preliminary assessment undertaken by an ecologist during an initial site visit. Essentially, this type of survey serves many purposes:

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• The survey firstly identifies any potential ecological 'constraints' on the proposed development. For example, a bat roost, a badger sett and the presence of high quality habitats. A Phase 1 Habitat survey will be undertaken at this stage.

• The PEA informs the Biodiversity Net Gain report and calculations where our trained ecologists are gathering key data to input into the Metric to help our clients achieve net gain on development sites. This could be in the form of onsite compensation, or purchasing biodiversity units from environment banks.​

• The ecologist will identify the requirement for further, more detailed surveys (protected species). For example, emergence bat surveys may be needed to assess the bat roost in the loft to inform a bat mitigation strategy / bat licence application. 

 

The survey will allow the ecologist to gather an overall 'picture' of the site, as well as to identify any opportunities to enhance your site for wildlife, to ensure compliance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and local policy. This initial survey will inform a PEA or an Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) report, if required.