An exciting time! We are soon to lead the way on BNG as well as nutrients.
At the start of January, we shall be taking on one of the UK's leading and most talented ecologists to assist with our nutrient neutrality offering, but also to increase our retinue to cover Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG). So what is BNG? As I’m sure we all know by now, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is an approach to development and the way we manage land. At its very core, the objective is to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was beforehand. The intention of BNG is to deliver a measurable improvement for biodiversity by way of creating and/or enhancing habitats in relation to development. A national mandatory BNG requirement came into effect for Major developments in February 2024, and for most other development types in April 2024 (unless specific exemptions apply). As a quick recap, The Environment Act 2021 achieved Royal Assent in November 2021. The aim of this legislation is to improve the environment we live in, leaving it in a better state than we found it. Part 6 of this legislation makes reference to BNG in relation to planning. Schedule 14 of the Act makes provision for at least 10% biodiversity gain to be a deemed condition of planning permission in England. How developments achieve 10% is demonstrated using the national Biodiversity Metric, which uses habitats and biodiversity units as a proxy for the value of biodiversity. The introduction to the Biodiversity Gain Hierarchy means the actions in the attached infographic are emphasised to developers, in order of priority. Unfortunately, many development types are not going to be able to avoid adverse effects and mitigate unavoidable effects. Whilst some traction for off-site Biodiversity Gain Site’s is starting to show, there are still relatively few banks nationally due to the complexities associated with the legal agreements to secure their deliverability and most importantly their management and monitoring for a minimum of 30 years. In addition, landowners who are considering allocating their land for BNG purposes are not sure how ‘deep’ they should go because of the uncertainty around the demand in this very new marketplace. Therefore, the importance of enhancing existing habitats, creating new habitats or a mixture of both onsite is a serious consideration that developers need to carefully think about and apply a lot of ingenuity to in their proposals designs to maximise the lands benefit for nature and reduce the need to seek offsite BNG solutions to reach 10% net gain. It is our view and ambition to utilise Nature Based Sustainable Drainage Solutions (NbSuDS) to help with this. This is just a few examples of how NbSuDS could help assist developers in achieving 10% net gain entirely onsite, avoiding the need and hassle in having to explore off-site solutions which will inevitably lead to delays. It is our intention to crash the BNG party to provide unique and holistic solutions that will help developers achieve their BNG onsite aspirations!