Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is the government’s latest approach to development and land management, which aims to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was beforehand.

 

The Environment Act will amend the Town and Country Planning Act to require a minimum of 10% gain in biodiversity for all new development. This will be measured using a new Biodiversity Metric with developments required to assess the current quality of habitats on site and ensure that there is a measurable increase in biodiversity.

The metric changes the approach to biodiversity in development. Under the current policy regime, there is a general requirement for ‘enhancement’, this is often fairly low-key and achieved through straightforward enhancements such as bird/bat boxes, bee bricks or new planting etc. This will now change to a more quantifiable system likely increasing the amount of mitigation required.

The reality of the legislation is that understanding the potential biodiversity mitigation requirements is going to be fundamental early in the design stage as land may be required to be set aside to meet the 10% net gain. This will obviously have implications for the capacity of the site and potential quantum of development, thus value.

The preference is for onsite mitigation, however, where this is not possible off-site mitigation is allowed. A national credit system will also be available, however, this has been deliberately designed to have the price of credits set higher than prices for equivalent biodiversity gain to discourage its use. It is anticipated that the mandatory requirement will come into force in November 2023 with an exemption for small sites until April 2024.

Andrew Tregay is Head of Planning at Symonds & Sampson. Contact him on 01258 472244 or one of our planning and diversification experts in your nearest Symonds & Sampson office.