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GCN - Strategic Opportunity Areas (Essex)

Publisher
Natural England
Updated
13 July 2026
Topic
Not set

Summary

This dataset identifies areas where the addition of new ponds would benefit Great Crested Newt populations.

The core areas contain a pond density of 2+ ponds and are located within a 1km square where great crested newt presence has been predicted.

Fringe areas contain a pond density of 1 and are located within a 1km square where great crested newt presence has been predicted or are within a 250m of a Core Area.

Higher scores are associated with darker colouration and represent a greater presence of suitable habitat features:

grassland density 10 - 50% woodland density 10 - 60% Distance from rivers <1500m Shannon Weaver Diversity -1.5 to -0.6 These suitable habitat features have been given a score of ‘1’.

Arable land (density 50 - 100%) has been given a score of ‘-1’.

Urban areas greater than 2ha (+400m buffer), roads (7.5m), rivers (7.5m) and Environment Agency Flood Zone 2 have been excluded. Attribution statement: © Natural England, 2022 Based upon LCM2015 © NERC (CEH) 2011. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright 2007. Based upon LCM2015 © NERC (CEH) 2017. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright 2007, Licence number 100017572. Soils Data © Cranfield University (NSRI) and for the Controller of HMSO 2019. Based upon LCM2007 © NERC (CEH) 2011. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright 2007. © third party licensors. Contains, or is derived from, information supplied by the Ordnance Survey and Rural Payments Agency. © Crown copyright and database rights 2019. © Freshwater Habitats Trust, PondNet monitoring scheme, 2018 © Essex Recorders partnership, 2018 Contains data supplied by: Essex County Council © Essex County Council 2019 Ordnance Survey 100019602; Basildon Borough Council © Basildon Borough Council 2019 Ordnance Survey 100018871; Braintree District Council © Braintree District Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018490; Brentwood Borough Council © Brentwood Borough council 2019; Castle Point Borough Council © Castle Point Borough Council 2019; Chelmsford City Council © Chelmsford City Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100023562; Colchester Borough Council © Colchester Borough Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100023706; Epping Forest District Council © Epping Forest District Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018534; Harlow Council © Harlow Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100019627; Maldon District Council © Maldon District Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018599; Rochford District Council © Rochford District Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018109; Tendring District Council © Tendring District Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018684; Thurrock Council © Thurrock Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100025457; Uttlesford District Council © Uttlesford District Council 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018688. © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2018. All rights reserved. Some features of this map are based on digital spatial data from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, © NERC (CEH). © Crown copyright and database rights 2018 Ordnance Survey 100024198. Contains, or is derived from, information supplied by Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright and database rights 2020 Ordnance Survey 100022021. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right, 2020

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Data links

Link Format Preview Updated
Online guidance 13/7/2026
ArcGIS Open Dataset record page 13/7/2026

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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
25 July 2025
Harvest GUID
e5f3c0f1-10e8-4f42-91cc-5cdcafe6ec2b
Extent (Latitude)
52.07° to 51.47°
Extent (Longitude)
-0.025° to 1.3°
Spatial reference system
http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/27700
Dataset reference date (creation)
2022-02-24
Dataset reference date (publication)
2022-05-19
Dataset reference date (revision)
2025-07-25
Frequency of update
notPlanned
Access constraints
There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.
Responsible party
Natural England (pointOfContact)
ISO 19139 resource type
dataset
Metadata language
eng

Contact

Enquiries

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Licence information

Terms of Use for Natural England's Information and Data (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-englands-maps-and-data-terms-of-use/terms-of-use-for-natural-englands-maps-and-data)

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