Data search charges & response times

Please note that from the 1st April 2024 our fees will be increasing by around 5%

Standard charges

These charges apply to commercial companies and governmental bodies. They also apply to individual householders or landowners using the data for development purposes (e.g. bat records for a planning application). Please note we do not supply formal quotes to be included in quotes for project tendering. For such cases please use these guidelines, use our data request cost calculator or call us for a quick informal idea of the cost.

Our charges are carefully set at a rate to ensure we can continue to provide a service now and into the future for the benefit of our environment. Find out more about our charging policy.

Where the data is required in GIS format for a large geographic area (search areas greater than a 10km square or 1000ha, or a 5km buffer around a site), a data licence can be provided. See our data licence charges page.

In addition to the dataset fees shown below there is a £65 base fee for all data searches.

Standard charges for data searches (excluding VAT)

Reduced rate

The charge will be reduced by 50% in the following situations:
 

  • For landowners requiring data for landholdings of more than a single site, and where the data will be used solely for conservation purposes (e.g. Farm Environment Plans).
  • For Parish and Town Councils using TVERC data for Parish Plans, Community-Led Plans or Neighbourhood Development Plans.
  • Funding partners (and contractors working on their behalf) who have signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

We also offer a reduced report specifically tailored to Neighbourhood Plans that costs £75+VAT. This report contains Protected, Notable and Invasive Species and Statutory and Non-Statutory Protected Sites, but the citation for protected sites will not be included.

Fee waived

We are able to waive the fees in the following circumstances:

  • Comment on a submitted or upcoming third party planning application
  • Species search charges will be waived where there are fewer than five species records within the requested search area.
  • Site search charges will be waived where there are no designated sites within the requested search area, or where the only sites present are Conservation Target Areas or Biodiversity Opportunity Areas.
  • Charges will be waived for data searches for individuals, landowners and organisations where the data will be used solely for conservation or research purposes AND where the search relates to a single site (e.g. a Local Wildlife Site). In these cases, a donation of £30 per hour will be invited, to cover the costs of extracting and presenting the data. This does not include private individuals making requests related to proposed development on their own land, or ecological consultants requesting data on behalf of a landowner.

Response time

  • We will usually process a request within 24 hours, and searches that require a quote or licence should receive the required documents to sign within this time frame. 
  • The majority of searches will be completed within 3 working days, although there may be a delay for bespoke searches, or if we receive a particularly high volume of searches in a short period of time. 
  • There is an option to pay a 100% surcharge in order to ensure the results are sent by the next working day.

Back to main data searches page