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SOLUTIONS FOR BIODIVERSITY NET GAIN & NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY IN NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In April 2024, adding 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became mandatory for new developments, bar a few exemptions. This followed the introduction of the requirement in February 2024, at which point it applied to ‘larger’ developments only – developments of nine houses or more in housebuilding terms – before the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) rolled it out further.
Protecting biodiversity is increasingly important, with the UK having lost over half of its biodiversity due to human activity since monitoring began in 1970. With efforts being made to restore habitats seen across multiple industries, housebuilding is no exception and has the potential to achieve progress at scale.
Adding 10% BNG means developers are not just obligated to replace any species habitats destroyed by a new development, but also add a further 10% of habitat. Ensuring new development is not just neutral in the impact it has on biodiversity but actually makes a change for the better is clearly a positive step for the environment, but it undoubtedly comes with challenges. We sought to survey housebuilders on their views on both biodiversity itself and its impact on their developments, to learn more about the challenges they’re facing – and possible solutions that could be adopted elsewhere. Any additional measures to be undertaken by developers comes at an additional cost which has to be managed and either absorbed or passed on. There is also an administrative element to contend with, comprising a ‘hierarchy’ of options to navigate, from achieving B onsite, to doing it offsite, to fi nally purchasing BNG ‘credits.’
In order to establish the BNG requirements for a development, Natural England requires a Biodiversity Net Gain Plan for planning permission to be granted, following a developer’s Environmental Impact Assessment. This then calculates the ‘units’ of BNG that are to be lost as a result of the development, with 10% then added to give the replacement required. Where it’s necessary for housebuilders to buy credits, they can purchase them from local landowners (thereby providing biodiverse
Are you aware of the full ramifi cations of what adding 10% Biodiversity Net Gain means for your schemes, and what the exemptions are?
habitat near to their scheme), other third party sources, or buy statutory credits from Natural England who run a scheme on behalf of Defra.
Natural England has also in recent years highlighted the issue of nutrient pollution caused by new developments, and subsequently advised dozens of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) that they can only approve developments if they are certain it will not cause additional pollution – from untreated/ partially treated sewage and wastewater, and surface water run-off. Currently, developments which are in areas at risk of nutrient pollution are therefore required to achieve nutrient neutrality, meaning additional nutrient loads created through wastewater must be mitigated.
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