Biodiversity Net Gain Leicestershire: Understanding BNG

Many local councils, such as Leicestershire County Council and North West Leicestershire District Council, are focused on recovering local wildlife sites and existing habitats through biodiversity gain planning. These councils have followed the government’s example by implementing a base-level BNG requirement of a 10% increase for all proposed development projects.

Projects must deliver an improvement to nature that can be kept up over the course of at least 30 years, which must be outlined with supporting evidence in any planning permission application documents. If BNG is not possible at the location of development, developers must accomplish the gain off-site by purchasing biodiversity units elsewhere.

The Planning Practice Guidance for Biodiversity Net Gain for England is located to provide further guidance on the GOV.UK website.

BNG applies to both major and minor developments:

• Major: 10+ dwellings or large sites over 0.5 hectares.
• Minor: 1–9 dwellings or small sites under 0.5 hectares, or commercial developments under 1,000 m² or 1 hectare.

Regardless of size, all developments must consider biodiversity from the outset and submit a biodiversity net gain plan as part of the planning process. A local planning authority is legally authorised to prevent the project from continuing if they believe this has been neglected.

There are 10 vital good practice principles of biodiversity net gain that can help a project showcase a conscious effort towards the BNG requirement. Outlined below are the mandatory net gain principles to successfully achieve BNG:

• 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 stakeholders in creating mandatory biodiversity strategies. Those involved after development should also be included in the process.
• Focus on producing sustainable natural benefits for biodiversity to leave a site and local wildlife in an improved state
• Understand the variable factors and potential risks in order to deliver BNG
• Attempt to exceed the base level requirement for biodiversity gains where possible
• Determine a suitable method in order to secure measurable on-site BNG gains
• Ensure the best possible results from biodiversity net gain

BNG requires developers to become directly involved in protecting important habitats. If you are uncertain on how biodiversity net gain (BNG) might affect your planning application, it is important to contact your local planning authority or consult an experienced ecologist early on, especially if your development could be significantly impacted.

Our ecological consultants can carry out a habitat assessment using the Statutory Biodiversity Metric (formerly Defra Metric 4.0). We will then incorporate the results into a tailored habitat management and monitoring plan, which factors in local nature recovery strategies to help ensure your project achieves the required net gain.

Collington Winter Environmental’s ecology and landscape architecture teams are licensed by Natural England and work with a wide range of clients throughout England and Wales, including the Leicestershire region.

Whether your project is large or small, we can support developers in understanding the core principles of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and how to effectively meet them. With extensive experience, our specialists are well-equipped to help prepare a biodiversity action plan (BAP) that aligns with the requirements of Leicestershire County Councils.

To learn more about our approach to biodiversity net gain in Hertfordshire, get in touch with our team at info@collingtonwinter.co.uk, or simply complete the contact form below.