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GCN - Strategic Opportunity Areas (Hertfordshire)

Publisher
Natural England
Updated
9 October 2025
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+ (i.e. there are 2+ ponds within 250m of any 25m square) where great crested newt presence has been predicted.

Fringe areas contain a pond density of <2 (i.e. there are fewer than 2 ponds within 250m of any 25m 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:

distance from rivers 50 - 1000m arable density 50 - 100% urban denity 40 - 100% grassland density 5 - 50% distrance from woodland < 100m distance to nearest pond 0 - 150m

These suitable habitat features have been given a score of ‘1’.

distance from rivers 50 - 1000m grassland density 5 - 50% distrance from woodland < 100m distance to nearest pond 0 - 150m

These suitable habitat features have been given a score of ‘-1’.

arable density 50 - 100% urban denity 40 - 100% 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, 2023 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. Contains data supplied by Natural Environment Research Council © NERC (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) and © Natural England. 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 © Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right, 2020 © Hertfordshire County Council © Crown copyright and database rights 2020 Ordnance Survey 100019606 © St Albans City & District Council © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100018953 © Three Rivers District Council © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100018686 © Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100019547 © Broxbourne Borough Council © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 © Dacorum Borough Council, 2021; © East Herts Council, 2021; © Hertsmere Borough Council, 2021; © Stevenage Borough Council, 2021; © Watford Borough Council, 2021 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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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
28 July 2025
Harvest GUID
1c0a2f77-aebb-4b53-8a74-6add7e59e2c0
Extent (Latitude)
52.08° to 51.6°
Extent (Longitude)
-0.74° to 0.2°
Spatial reference system
http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/27700
Dataset reference date (creation)
2024-02-15
Dataset reference date (revision)
2024-02-15
Frequency of update
unknown
Access constraints
Publicly Accessible
Responsible party
Natural England (pointOfContact)
ISO 19139 resource type
dataset
Metadata language
eng

Contact

Enquiries

data.services@naturalengland.org.uk

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Licence information

Non-Commercial Government Licence (NCGL) (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/non-commercial-government-licence/version/2/), Publicly Accessible

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