TOMA DE DECISIONES COLECTIVAS

In order to the test the above method it was necessary to adopt a case study approach so that all aspects of the process could be trialled. In particular, plant regimes would only be available for sites being developed.

5.6.1 Case Study Requirements

A variation of case study sites was needed across the UK. Varying location was one of the main objectives, as it was assumed that the climate matching of sites would reveal different locations on the continent. Thus the final plant selections would be different dependant where in the UK the site was, illustrating the flexibility of the framework. Other requirements included:

- Brownfield development site, any kind of soil,

- Ideally within the last 5 years, can have already been completed or still in progress,

- Large scale where there is a requirement for biodiversity/habitat creation/landscape design e.g. large scale housing development, building of a factory in a non-urban environment.

- More than just ornamental planting,

- Need to have access to documents on the site conditions, intended use of site, planting documents; it therefore needs to be at this stage in the planning process.

With this range of criteria, it was decided a practical number of 5 sites should be found to fully explore the method.

5.6.2 Site Selection

Planning application documents for development sites held on local council websites were investigated for their potential to be a case study, i.e. matched the requirements stated above.

Knowledge of the site is paramount, as knowing the conditions of the site, and the habitats typically planned for the site will dictate the species selected when vegetation matching is performed at that stage in the framework. These documents are freely accessible by an online searching portal. One case study was already in place before the research commenced, which formed the basis of this research, as discussed in section 1.3. Documents held at Middlemarch Environmental Ltd (MEL) were therefore utilised to obtain the relevant information. Overall, there were five case study sites selected which are listed below, and discussed in more detail in chapter 7. Figure 5.8 shows the locations of these sites in the UK on the UKCP09 25km grid square layout.

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- Eastern Quarry, Swanscombe, Kent (pink square on fig 5.8) - Olympic Village, Stratford, London (yellow square on fig 5.8)

- Brogborough Landfill site, Central Bedfordshire (light blue square on fig 5.8) - Minworth Sewage Works, Birmingham (white square on fig 5.8)

- Wheatley Hall Road, Doncaster (dark blue square on fig 5.8)

Figure 5.8 The UKCP09 25km grid square layout showing the location of the five case studies.

5.7 Questionnaire

Qualitative data on the research was obtained via an online questionnaire which was sent out to all members of the Association of Local Government Ecologists (ALGE) entitled ‘planting assemblages for a changing climate’. ALGE is an association of professional ecologists working in local government in the UK. With the aim to develop good standards of nature conservation, their opinions on the research topic were both valuable and credible.

5.7.1 Purpose of Questionnaire

The purpose of sending the questionnaire was to gauge the perception of ecologists when considering climate change and biodiversity; how much it is considered in their field of work; what action, if any, they can take; and what their thoughts are on introducing non native species into the planting assemblages on brownfield sites, and to creating resilient sites robust to climate change.

Foddy (1994), involved in many sociology disciplines, believes it is reasonable for the researcher to treat respondents as peers, and that seeking feedback from the respondents is acceptable.

The overall outcome of this research was to provide planting lists which incorporate species of a non-native provenance into planting assemblages; the purpose of the questionnaire was not to divert the

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research away from this or guide it. However, by obtaining the ecologists’ views, knowledge of their attitude towards this approach could be gained, with an idea of how this research would be accepted by practitioners and others in the field. It was envisaged that the qualitative data collected here would contribute to the case study development, provide direction and add value to this research.

By observing the participant’s perspective one discovers new information that will ‘contribute to the development of empirical knowledge’ (Corbin and Strauss, 2008).

5.7.2 Questionnaire Form

Due to the large member base within ALGE, and their varied locations across the UK, a self-completion online questionnaire was created, whereby respondents could reply in their own time.

The number of replies would not have been matched if face to face to interviews had been constructed, as these require a greater degree of planning and more time from both parties. The questionnaire was created using Bristol Online Surveys (BOS), with the web link attached to an email sent out to all ALGE members detailing the research aims and what was required of the respondents.

The respondents were informed that their identity would remain anonymous to avoid question threat (i.e. unease in answering a question) and to avoid respondents providing incorrect or biased answers (Foddy, 1994).

The main problem with self completion questionnaires is that the interviewer cannot clarify questions; the respondent needs to understand the question, as stated by Foddy (1994) ‘in the way intended by the researcher’ and equally ‘the answer given by the respondent must be understood by the researcher in the way intended by the respondent’. In order for this to happen, people must attribute the same values and meanings to words, and understand the structural component imbedded in the question. This may not always be the case, and is another flaw associated with questionnaires of this manner. More detail on the questionnaire design, content and the analysis can be found in chapter 6, with a copy of the questionnaire in appendix 1.

5.8 Conclusion

The methodology proposed aims to create species lists which will be able to tolerate the future climate better than current recommended habitat design. In formulating this process, a climate matching technique has been developed to identify areas in Europe which currently experience the climate the UK is likely to incur in the future, utilising the most up-to-date projections to do so.

Under a medium emission scenario for 2050, the 10-90% probability climate change projection range for temperature and precipitation have been calculated and combined with a baseline to create the future climate values. For visualisation purposes a GIS has been incorporated into the methodology;

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those areas climatically matched in Europe are displayed and the most suitable location can then be found on closer inspection of the overall climate match.

Once a suitable location has been found vegetation data can then be sought from these locations through a combination of field work and published data sources. A case study approach was employed in the methodology, to demonstrate its utilisation for any given development site in the UK, with the outcome to meet the long term objectives required for biodiversity at these sites. A questionnaire was developed to inform the research with regards to vegetation matching and planting design, the results of which are discussed in the next chapter.

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6. Questionnaire Design, Results and Analysis