Wildlife corridors are a key component of wider ecological networks, connecting core wildlife areas and stepping stone habitats. They enable species to move, disperse, migrate and reproduce. Cheshire Wildlife Trust used a simple methodology to map habitat distinctiveness and use this information to map local wildlife corridors. This was done at parish level to assist neighbourhood planning. Using this approach, and by joining wildlife corridors as more parishes joined the initiative, the Trust was able to produce a landscape scale corridor map.
This mapping is being used to inform Neighbourhood Planning policies, and help strategic planning to benefit wildlife. Cheshire East Local Authority have adopted these wildlife corridors where Neighbourhood Plans have identified them in their own policies.