Published on: 22 February 2024
As of 12 February 2024, biodiversity net gain (BNG) became mandatory for developments.
BNG is an approach to development that makes sure habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before the development.
In England, BNG is mandatory under Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021).
Developers must deliver a BNG of 10%. This means a development will result in more, or better-quality natural habitat than there was before development.
You need to know about the new rules if you’re a:
- Developer of major developments
- Developer of small sites from 2 April 2024
- Developer of nationally significant infrastructure projects from late November 2025
- Land manager wanting to sell in the BNG market
- Local planning authority (LPA).
Through site selection and layout, developers should avoid or reduce any negative impact on biodiversity. They must deliver at least 10% BNG, as measured by the statutory biodiversity metric.
There are three ways a developer can achieve BNG:
- They can create biodiversity onsite (within the red line boundary of a development site).
- If developers cannot achieve all of their BNG onsite, they can deliver through a mixture of on-site and off-site. Developers can either make off-site biodiversity gains on their own land outside the development site, or buy off-site biodiversity units on the market.
- If developers cannot achieve on-site or off-site BNG, they must buy statutory biodiversity credits from the government. This should be a last resort. The government will use the revenue to invest in habitat creation in England.
Developers can combine all three options, but must follow the steps in order. This order of steps is called the biodiversity gain hierarchy.
Full details on BNG can be found on the Gov.uk website Understanding biodiversity net gain – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It is expected that there will be some issues with the application of the complicated metrics in calculating biodiversity net gain, if British Marine members who are developing new sites are affected by this new legislation please feedback any issues through [email protected]
