Information about biodiversity for landowners
New Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) regulations mean that nearly all new developments must be able to show that they have a positive effect on biodiversity. Some of this can be achieved within developments themselves but the Government has also provided a way of ‘offsetting’ development by buying credits from approved Biodiversity Net Gain Sites.
Any Biodiversity Net Gain site will need to be registered on the National Register. In order to register a site a Habitats Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (HMMP) and Statutory Metric will be required. Once registered a site will be provided with a unique ID and can sell Units.
We do not currently have the resources to become a legal party in Section 106 Agreements/Conservation covenants with landowners.
Where to start
A range of information to help you to understand what Biodiversity Net Gain is and how landowners can interact with it is available from the government webpages:
- Understanding biodiversity net gain
- Meet your BNG requirements: steps to take for land managers
- Combining environmental payments: biodiversity net gain (BNG) and nutrient mitigation
- Sell biodiversity units as a land manager
- Calculate biodiversity value with the statutory biodiversity metric
Technical information
Developers may buy Biodiversity Units to offset net losses on their development proposals once consent is granted. The following is a brief outline of how the purchase of Units interacts with the planning process.
- The Habitat Site owner and developer agree the purchase of Units.
- The sites unique ID will be required to validate any discharge of condition application of the development using the Units to discharge the Biodiversity Net Gain Condition.
- The unique ID will be checked on the Natural England register by the LPA to verify that the site is legitimate and is legally able to sell Units.
- A Statutory Metric must also be provided. It is expected that the sellers will supply this to the applicant to ensure that the Units being sold meet the developments Biodiversity Net Gain Units.
- Before a positive determination can be given the relevant Units must be allocated to that development on the Natural England register.
- Once this allocation is confirmed the condition is discharged/positively determined.
Council role
We are happy to advertise Biodiversity Net Gain sites within the Borough/relevant National Character Areas that have been registered on the Natural England Register on the `Developer Information` section of the website.