Biodiversity Net Gain
The Government is considering changes to mandatory BNG requirements and also the introduction of a ‘medium’ development threshold (10-49 units or <1ha). Both are subject to consultation. If changes are implemented there would be some implications to BNG policy and practice. The ‘Improving the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain for minor, medium and brownfield development Consultation document’ sets out the government’s proposals for change to the mandatory BNG process.
The main areas for improvement being considered are:
- Reform of existing exemptions and introduction of new exemptions
- Streamlining the small sites metric and considering whether this could apply to medium development (if introduced).
- Relaxation of the biodiversity gain hierarchy and disapplication or amendment to the spatial risk multiplier for minor development
- Delivery of compensation for development on brownfield sites with open mosaic habitat, applicable to all development categories
In terms of our existing BNG policy NE3a, and proposals to include a 20% BNG requirement for major developments, the potential changes would have little material impact. A slight re-wording of the policy to either avoid reference to, or clearly differentiate between, threshold types would be needed.
If minor developments were exempted our existing policy requirement for minors within NE3a could be retained, requiring no net loss and appropriate net gain.
The reforming site thresholds working paper sets out the government’s considerations for introducing a new medium development threshold for sites between 10 and 49 homes, up to 1.0 ha in size. The ’Improving the Implementation of BNG’ consultation then considers whether there should be a specific BNG approach for medium sites through use of the simplified metric which is currently used for minor developments. This would affect BNG outcomes and require slight re-wording of existing policy.
We will continue to keep government policy changes under review in preparing a BNG policy for the submission plan.