This article on the invertebrate charity Buglife's approach to Biodiversity offsetting on the Woodland Trusts blog is well worth a read if you have a moment. See http://wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/biodiversity-offsetting-can-it-deliver-for-species-some-questions-to-think-about/. As are the other articles on the blog.
In a nutshell, it is a new approach that would allow a developer to go ahead with a scheme provided they paid into a central fund that would be used to compensate for the loss of habitat by enhancing or recreating habitat elsewhere. That's a simple summary of a very complex situation, for example ancient woodland by it's very nature cannot be recreated, (which Defra have recognised apparently) but some brownfield sites potentially could be. I can see advantages and disadvantages, and as it is one of the big new things Defra are promoting (along with the Ecosystem Services concept) it's worth keeping abreast of it.
It's also worth noting that the Vale Council's Draft LDP identifies a number of brownfield sites for development, notably quite large areas of land in Barry Docks.
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