Biodiversity Net Gain Bristol: Understanding BNG

In order to protect, grow and enhance the natural environment, the North Yorkshire Council are encouraging a minimum biodiversity net gain of at least 10% for all development projects.

In England, BNG is mandatory under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021). Therefore, BNG will soon become a planning policy in England and will be a mandatory requirement for all developments proposed.

Planning projects must deliver a biodiversity net gain (BNG) that is sustained for at least 30 years. If the required BNG levels are not achieved at the outset, a mitigation hierarchy should be applied to ensure the project eventually meets the required standard.

Enhancing biodiversity net gain is particularly important for protected or high-value nature conservation areas, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. BNG is already widely implemented as part of local nature recovery strategies and the National Planning Policy Framework.

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is now a mandatory requirement for new planning applications for major developments under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Major developments include residential projects with 10 or more dwellings or sites covering more than 0.5 hectares.

From April 2024, BNG will also become mandatory for small sites. These include residential developments with 1 to 9 dwellings or sites smaller than 0.5 hectares, as well as commercial developments where the floor space created is under 1,000 square meters or the site area is less than 1 hectare.

There are ten crucial good practice principles of biodiversity net gain. These should help in achieving net gain for biodiversity if they are followed accordingly. The mandatory biodiversity net gain principles include the following:

• Utilise the mitigation hierarchy to minimise the impact on biodiversity
• Eliminate any negative impacts of development on biodiversity
• Communicate each BNG outcome with complete transparency
• Cover all areas of sustainability, including societal and economic factors
• Involve any pre-development and post-development stakeholders in creating mandatory net gain solutions
• Focus on producing long-term natural net benefit for biodiversity. This will ensure a development leave local wildlife in a better state than it was before
• Understand the variable factors and potential risks in order to deliver BNG
• Offer nature conservation that exceeds the stated BNG requirements
• Determine a suitable method in order to secure measurable on site biodiversity net gains
• Ensure the best possible results from biodiversity net gain

If you are unsure of how statutory biodiversity net gain delivery may affect your planning application, you should contact your local planning authority. If they indicate that your development could be significantly impacted, we recommend that you contact an experienced ecologist as soon as possible.

They can discuss whether your development plans meet the required standards as well as any measures you may need to take in order to meet development planning requirements.

At Collington Winter, our team has strong experience in ensuring that overall, there is a gain for biodiversity for developments in Bristol and will provide guidance throughout the planning process. We can ensure that one of our experienced biodiversity ecologists visits your development site to assist with any ecological reports and a biodiversity net gain plan.

Our ecologists will complete a habitat classification assessment, and the data is then used to calculate a number of biodiversity units to measure changes to the natural environment, pre and post development. This metric is currently Defra Biodiversity Metric 4.0. This data can then be used to create a habitat management and monitoring plan.

Please get in touch if you would like further information about Bristol’s approach to BNG. Our team of ecological consultants and landscape architects have helped numerous clients in the South West. Our clients have ranged from minor developments to major applications. We have assisted with matters regarding policy guidance for biodiversity net gain from the Bristol City Council.

If you would like to find out more about the services we provide, feel free to contact us using the details below.