Commercial Data Requests are designed for use by Ecological Consultants and should not be submitted by private individuals, landowners or developers. There is usually a charge for this service. We offer the following standard packages:

• Package A – from £164.5 + VAT: 1km Search – Notable Species, INNS, Statutory Sites, Local Non-statutory Sites & Priority Habitats within 1km of a point or site boundary

• Package B – from £227.5 + VAT: 2km Search – Notable Species, INNS, Statutory Sites, Local Non-statutory Sites & Priority Habitats within 2km of a point or site boundary

An additional species or group (e.g. bats) at a larger search radius can be added to these packages. Prices for these additions are from £30 + VAT.
Polygon or linear searches will increase the cost, as charges vary according to the total area searched.

• Package E – £103 + VAT: 2km Bat Species Search – Bat species only within 2km of a point. Please note this search is only suitable for small single property developments, e.g. loft conversions

Please note for Package E it is the ecologist’s responsibility to determine if this search is sufficient to meet planning requirements. See Ecological Data for Planning Applications page

Plus GIS Data: Our standard data outputs are provided in Excel and PDF format, however GIS data is also included with the following packages:

• Package A+ – from £190 + VAT: 1km Search including GIS data – Notable Species, INNS, Statutory Sites, Local Non-statutory Sites & Priority Habitats within 1km of a point or site boundary

• Package B+ – from £262 + VAT: 2km Search including GIS data – Notable Species, INNS, Statutory Sites, Local Non-statutory Sites & Priority

• Package E+ – £119 + VAT: 2km Bat Species Search including GIS data – Bat species only within 2km of a point. Please note this search is only suitable for small single property developments, e.g. loft conversions

N.B. Requesting data outside standard packages will require a Custom Search. These will be quoted separately and may be provided in a different format and within a different timescale than the Standard Packages.

Partner organisations and some others qualify for discounted rates. Make a Partner request if you qualify.

See the BMERC Charging Policy for details and exceptions, and who might qualify for discounts.

For Parish Councils seeking environmental information to support a Parish Plan, a standard package is provided, see below. Note, this is only available to Parish Councils.

• Package C – £63 + VAT: Parish Boundary Search – Notable Species, Invasive Non-native Species, Statutory Sites, Local Non-statutory Sites & Priority Habitats within a Parish boundary

Other data requests from Parish Councils for data should be made via one of the other standard packages or by using the Custom Search, depending on the type of request.

There is normally no charge for non-commercial data searches (see BMERC Charging Policy for details and exceptions).

The simplest request provides a standard package containing a summary of Notable and Invasive Non-native species records within a 500m buffer of a specified point. The results are provided in summary form.

Non-Commercial requests can be made for any other data using a Custom Search, e.g. specific species or species groups, non-Notable species lists, habitats and sites. Please provide the reasons you believe this search should not be chargeable in your request.

Please note than any search by or on behalf of a developer or landowner seeking to develop land will normally incur a charge and should be submitted using the Commercial Data Searches route.

We aim to provide

• Standard Data Search packages within one working day, often within a few hours.
• We will respond to a Custom Data Search request between one and three working days with a quotation, subject to workload and complexity. Note that this may be extended if we need more information to clarify your requirements.
• Depending on the type of Custom Data Search, if it can be processed via eMapper it will be delivered within one working day of acceptance of the quotation. Delivery time of other searches will be specified in the quotation.

Commercial search packages include the following:

• Statutory sites: Special Protection Areas (SPA), Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), National Nature Reserves (NNR), Local Nature Reserves (LNR)
• Local Non-statutory sites: Local Wildlife Sites (LWS), Local Geology Sites (LGS), Biological Notification Sites (BNS), Milton Keynes Wildlife Corridors (MKWC), Road Verge Nature Reserves (RVNR) and Biodiversity Opportunity Areas (BOA).
• Habitats: Habitats of Principal Importance and UK BAP Priority Habitats (data from Bucks CC habitat mapping projects), Ancient Woodlands (Ancient & Semi-natural Woodland and Replanted Ancient Woodland sites).
• Notable Species records: Protected species, Species of Principal Importance, Red Data Book, Nationally Scarce, Birds of Conservation Concern, Locally important species etc. Records for all years are provided; these can be filtered by date if required.
• Invasive Non-native Species records: Records of species that are known to be invasive non-natives, these are species that have potential impact and control issues. For more information, visit the GB non-native species secretariat website. Information is based on the following statuses:
  - Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Parts 1 and 2 (excluding native species listed in Parts 1A and 1B)
  - The UK Water Framework Directive Technical Advisory Group’s invasive species list
  - Species for which alerts have been issued by the GB non-native species secretariat
  
• Other Data:
  - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) Nature Reserves
  - Water Vole Key Areas (data from BBOWT)
  - B-Lines maps (data from Buglife)

Standard Data Searches and some Custom Data Searches will be delivered online via eMapper which provides many useful features including:

• Interactive mapping of species and sites on Ordnance Survey Maps, Aerial Photos and other background layers
• Customisable display of species records
• Filter records by year, distance, resolution, species list and more
• Downloadable maps, and species records in PDF and Excel formats

View examples of our outputs
Using eMapper you have the ability to customise your own reports in PDF or Excel format, using all the data or a filtered subset.

BMERC is pleased to offer cross-boundary searches which provides a cheaper alternative with less administration than ordering separately. We currently offer this for searches which extend into Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire through cooperative agreements with Bedfordshire and Luton Biodiversity Recording and Monitoring Centre (BRMC) and Hertfordshire Environmental Records Centre (HERC) .

• Where searches are centred in BMERC and extend into these counties, you will be offered the choice to receive data from the other records centres.
• If your search is centred in the BMERC area and you opt to add on data from other records centres, we will invoice you and you will pay us our standard fee for the search area.
• You will need to agree to the Terms and Conditions of all records centres you will receive data from before submitting your search.
• Results of the BMERC portion of the search will be sent to you via an eMapper link as usual.
• We will pass details of your request to the other records centre(s) who will send their data directly to you using their standard output mechanism.
• We will invoice you for the whole search on completion of the BMERC portion of the search.
• Note that cross-boundary searches are only available when the total search area is less than 13.2 km² (a 2.05km radius circle)

If your search area is centred in another records centre, you will be directed to that records centre to submit your request there, and the same principles will apply in reverse.
If you prefer, you can still purchase data separately from both parties, albeit this will involve 2 invoices and be more expensive.

BMERC's Data Request process is delivered in partnership with Cofnod. For chargeable data requests an invoice will be sent by email once the request has been fulfilled. If you wish the invoice to be sent to someone other than yourself (e.g. Accounts Payable Department) you can "create a billing contact" as part of the data request. If your company uses a specific email address to which invoices should be sent (e.g. Invoices@), please ensure this is specified in your request.

Payments should be made to LERC Online (details below), please do not make payments to BMERC or Buckinghamshire Council.

If your company uses Purchase Order Numbers, please ensure that you obtain this before making your request.

If your company requires us to be set up as a supplier prior to requesting data, the following details should be used:

LERC Online
c/o Cofnod Ltd.
Ffordd y Parc, Parc Menai
Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 4FG

Company Number: 05586906
VAT Number: 880 1028 47

Bank Details
Cooperative Bank
Account Name: LERC Online
Account Number: 65867152
Sort Code: 08 92 99

If your company requires us to complete a Supplier Form, please send these to accounts@lerc.online

Our Payment Terms are 28 Days from the invoice date. Payments should be made by BACS Transfer. No cheques or card payments will be accepted. When making payment please state the Invoice Number as your reference.