Could we measure local economic impact and number of green jobs created, not just national GDP growth? Could we develop a sophisticated place happiness metric? - it can’t be more complex than counting the number of great crested newts displaced, or model-based forecasts of the number of shoppers who will need to turn left at a new roundabout, which is the evidence which currently underpins planning decisions.
It certainly can't be more complex than calculating the required number of reptile survey days as per the latest NE guidelines...