Kent County Council and Nord-Pas de Calais were working on a project that aimed to set up cross-border tools and methods to assess and monitor biodiversity, and to improve the way that habitats and species are mapped in both regions. exeGesIS were contracted to undertake a feasibility study on the development of a tool to assess functional ecological connectivity. This involved an assessment of user needs, a review of the available methods and approaches, a stakeholder workshop to identify the preferred options and the development of a functional specification.

The assessment of user needs involved a workshop with the project steering group and a questionnaire to wider stakeholders that aimed to explore the requirements for the tool. This guided the review of approaches and the most appropriate options were presented to the stakeholders at a workshop. Stakeholders were then asked to vote for the preferred options, the results of which were used to write a functional specification for the tool.

Further information from Crispin Flower.