Warwickshire Biological Records Centre

Public and research access

Access to the Warwickshire Biological Records Centre (WBRC) is free for the public, students and other researchers. Records can be made available in electronic form to students or a visit arranged through making an appointment to our office in Warwick. You will be asked to confirm that the data will not be used or passed on to a commercial enterprise or planning purposes.

Commercial access

A charge based on an hourly rate is made for commercial enquiries. This charge covers staff costs to extract information from the WBRC and make it available remotely in a suitable format, it does not include maintenance of the WBRC itself.

Standard Data Search

Our standard search is provided as a zip folder, containing species and site GIS shapefiles, a PDF of ecosite descriptions, PDF copies of LGS citations (if applicable), and a 1km radius confidential badger map.

1. Set Costs (from 1st April 2024)

• a) Single Species search
  • Standard response (within 10 working days): £95 plus VAT
  • Priority response (3 working days): £190 plus VAT (subject to resources)
• b) 1km radius search from a single central grid reference
  • Standard response (within 10 working days): £140 plus VAT
  • Priority response (3 working days): £280 plus VAT (subject to resources)
• c) 2km radius search from a single central grid reference
  • Standard response (within 10 working days): £210 plus VAT
  • Priority response (3 working days): £420 plus VAT (subject to resources)

2. Additional Costs

• a) Provision of JPEG maps, for species and sites, and an Excel spreadsheet of species records
  • Standard response (within 10 working days): £95 plus VAT
  • Priority response (3 working days): £190 plus VAT

3. Variable Costs

• a) Customised search (i.e.: from red line boundary/shapefile)
  • Standard response (within 10 working days): via quotation
  • Priority response (3 working days): via quotation (subject to resources)
• b) Data Provision and Data Sharing Agreements
  • Agreements can be made with regular users of the WBRC: via quotation

Other Data sources that may supplement a Commercial WBRC Search

• Other nationally designated datasets, including Nationally Designated Sites (e.g. SSSIs, SACs) and UK Priority Habitat Inventories) and should be obtained from Natural England through the online Magic web-mapping.
• Information about Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) are available from relevant lower tier (district/borough) Local Planning Authority.
• Additional site information may be available within Ecosite folders and Local Sites citations. Ecosites will be referenced within your search and can be made available on request at an additional charge or arrangement.
• Your search may also reference other information that could be available within planning applications submissions or other research reports. These can be made available on request at an additional charge or arrangement but only where the WBRC has a copy of these reports and are able share them.