Biodiversity Net Gain York: 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.

A planning project must provide a biodiversity net gain increase for a minimum period of 30 years. If the required BNG levels are not met initially, a mitigation hierarchy should be followed until the project reaches the required standard.

Biodiversity net gain is especially significant for protected or important nature conservation sites and sites of special scientific interest. BNG is already commonly used for local nature recovery strategy and National Planning Policy Framework.

From 12 February 2024, BNG will be mandatory for new planning applications for major development made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Major developments include residential developments with 10 or more dwellings or if the site area is greater than 0.5 hectares.

Biodiversity net gain will be made mandatory for small sites from April 2024. Small sites include residential developments where the number of dwellings is between 1 or 9 or if the site area is less than 0.5 hectares. Small sites also include commercial developments where floor space created is less than 1,000 square metres or the overall 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 biodiversity net gain
• Offer nature conservation that exceeds the stated biodiversity net gain requirements
• Determine a suitable method in order to secure measurable biodiversity net gains
• Ensure the best possible results from biodiversity net gain

If you are unsure of how mandatory 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 York 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 York’s approach to BNG. Our team of ecological consultants and landscape architects have helped numerous clients over the years. Our clients have ranged from minor developments to major applications. We have assisted with matters regarding policy guidance for biodiversity net gain from the North Yorkshire Council.

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