January 18th, 2024 | julia Through the adoption of the Environment Act 2021, compulsory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) targets are due to be introduced in January 2024 for medium to large scale projects with smaller schemes anticipated to be included from April 2024. BNG makes sure development has a measurably positive impact (‘net gain’) on biodiversity, compared to what was there before development. Developers must deliver a BNG of at least 10%, meaning a development must result in more or better quality natural habitat than there was before development even if there is no net loss of natural habitats. In England, BNG is becoming mandatory under Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021). The Statutory Biodiversity Metric was published early in 2024 to be used to calculate the pre-development baseline biodiversity score compared to post development score which will determine the necessary habitat creation or enhancement measures needed to mitigate for any loss of biodiversity and deliver the statutory BNG targets. Habitat creation or enhancement ideally should be provided within the redline site boundary, but obviously this can be very tricky for rural housing schemes and off-site solutions might be required in adjacent land or even government biodiversity credits which can be purchased through the Local Planning Authority. All habitat creation and enhancement measures must be established and delivered in accordance with the BNG calculations and maintained for a period of 30 years. The Biodiversity Metric will be a statutory requirement for all residential planning applications of 10 or more dwellings from February 2024. If the LPA grants planning permission, you will need to create a biodiversity gain plan. This is a document that shows how you will achieve BNG. A qualified ecologist will be required to produce the biodiversity gain plan and it must provide evidence for the BNG decisions. The LPA are required to approve the biodiversity gain plan before any development can commence. The Environment Act 2021 also introduces legislation which prohibits the clearance of development sites prior to planning. Historic aerial photographs will be used to determine if natural habitat has been cleared from development sites and appropriate action will be taken. Any BNG calculation will use estimates of baseline conditions from before the site clearance. As such it will be important to engage with an ecologist as the earliest opportunity, prior to any site clearance which may be needed for access or other surveys (archaeology, percolation testing etc). Please note we are only able to provide BNG support as part of a full project delivery alongside Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA), Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) and secondary species surveys. We are not able to undertake standalone BNG at this time.