10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became a statutory requirement on 12th February 2024. It is a new statutory requirement to ensure that major developments deliver measurable improvements to biodiversity through enhancing existing habitats or by creating new ones. The legislation will apply to minor developments from 2nd April 2024. Householders are exempt. Other exemptions are set out in the information below.
All wildlife habitat created or enhanced through BNG MUST be maintained for at least 30 years after the development is completed. Monitoring reports to evidence this must be provided to the Local Planning Authority. Developers are required to pay for habitat creation, enhancement, management and monitoring over this 30 year period.
If you are developing a Habitat Bank in Devon or are a landowner/occupier potentially interested in being paid to create wildlife habitat through the BNG route then please add yourself to our Devon BNG map or send us your details. click here for more information.
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Policy and Legislative Requirements
As of 12th February 2024 a minimum 10% BNG is required under a statutory framework introduced by Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (inserted by the Environment Act 2021) for all major developments, and from the 2nd April 2024 for all minor developments.. Schedule 14 of the Environment Act makes provision for statutory 10% BNG to be a condition of planning permissions in England, using the national Biodiversity Metric and submission of a Biodiversity Gain Plan. it must be maintained for at least 30 years after the development is completed.
Under the statutory framework for biodiversity net gain, every grant of planning permission is deemed to have been granted subject to a general biodiversity gain condition to secure the biodiversity gain objective. This objective is to deliver at least a 10% increase in relation to the pre-development biodiversity value of the development granted permission.
The general biodiversity gain condition is a pre-commencement condition: once planning permission has been granted, a Biodiversity Gain Plan must be submitted and approved by the planning authority before commencement of the development.
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Exemptions
The following types of planning application are exempt from providing statutory BNG:
Retrospective planning permissions made under Section 73A and Section 73 permissions where the original permission which the section 73 relates to was either granted before statutory BNG or the application for the original permission was made before statutory BNG.
Temporary exemption for non-major developments (until April 2024) – i.e. all development not considered major development under the Article 2 Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015
Householder Developments
Development granted planning permission by a development order under section 59. This includes permitted development
Development subject to the de minimis exemption – development that does not impact a priority habitat and impacts less than 25 square metres (e.g. 5m by 5m) of habitat, or 5 metres of linear habitats such as hedgerows.
Self-build and custom build development – development which:
- consists of no more than 9 dwellings, and
- is carried out on a site which has an area no larger than 0.5 hectares, and
- consists exclusively of dwellings which are self-build or custom housebuilding as defined in section 1(A1) of the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015
Development of a biodiversity gain site – development which is undertaken solely or mainly for the purpose of fulfilling, in whole or in part, the biodiversity gain planning condition which applies in relation to another development
- The policy context for BNG
- What BNG is, the basics of how it works and when it applies
- The key stages of the process in relation to planning applications
- A sequential approach to be followed in determining whether BNG should be provided on-site or off-site
- How to consider ‘strategic significance’ within the BNG Metric in order to deliver nature recovery in Devon
- How BNG will be secured
- How Devon LPAs will enable off-site delivery mechanisms, including Habitat Banks
- Monitoring and enforcement
- Validation requirements
- Defra BNG Webpage Collection
- Defra BNG Planning Practice Guidance
- Planning Advice Service BNG Webpages
- Biodiversity Net Gain: Good Practice Principles for Development, A Practical Guide (CIEEM, 2019)
- Biodiversity Net Gain – Principles and Guidance for UK construction and developments (CIRIA, 2019)
- Natural England SANGS Quality Guidance (2021)
- Biodiversity Gain Plan template
- Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan template
- residential development where the number of dwellings is between 1 and 9 on a site of an area 1 hectare or less, or if the number of dwellings is unknown, the site area is less than 0.5 hectares, or
- commercial development where floor space created is less than 1,000 square metres or total site area is less than 1 hectare
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Provision of offsite BNG (including Habitat Banks and Registration Criteria)
Habitat Banks are new wildlife habitats which are created on the basis that costs can be met through selling biodiversity units to developers (note that Habitat Banks are set up at the owner’s risk and in an open marketplace for purchasing biodiversity units).
Habitat banks MUST be registered and agreed with the relevant LPA via a legal agreement (most likely a s.106 agreement) in order for units to then be sold to developers and accepted by Devon LPAs
More information on Habitat Banking and how to sell BNG units as a landowner has been produced by Defra:
Sell biodiversity units as a land manager
There are a number of criteria which must be met and submitted as part of any Habitat Bank registration with the relevant Devon LPA – Devon Habitat Bank Registration Criteria
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Monitoring Fees and Draft S.106 Agreements
The LPA will require a fee to cover costs of agreeing Biodiversity Gain Plans and detailed Habitat Management and Monitoring Plans, monitoring Offsite and significant onsite BNG and registering Habitat Banks. The Devon BNG Guidance document (February 2024) shows the breakdown of how the costs have been derived and will be used as a base from which Devon LPAs will derive their monitoring fees. Please note that each LPA may have slightly different monitoring fees based on local monitoring requirements.
In Devon, monitoring costs for significant onsite and registered offsite provision will be associated with the size of the habitat bank/offsite land parcel. The following fees have been calculated:
Small site (0-10ha) – £4,131.08
Medium site (11-20ha) – £5,076.97
Large site (21ha+) – £6,022.86
Monitoring reports will be expected to be submitted to the LPA on Years 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30. Site visits will be undertaken by the LPA (or someone employed by the LPA) on Years 1, 5, 15, 25 and 30. Costings for a sixth site visit at an unspecified time are also included within the above fees. Please note, individual LPAs may have slightly different monitoring requirements, so the above monitoring years should be used as a guide only. For further information, please contact the relevant LPA directly.
Below are a number of DRAFT s.106 legal agreements which can be used to register Habitat Banks. Please note that these document will be updated as required. Please do share any comments on these with us via nature@devon.gov.uk
Single Phase Habitat Bank S106 Template (Owner)
Single Phase Habitat Bank S106 Template (Tenant)
Devon BNG Guidance Note
A Devon specific BNG Guidance Note has been produced to provide guidance and advice on calculating and delivering BNG across all Devon LPAs. It aims to ensure a consistent and efficient approach across Devon and is aimed at all those involved in BNG – developers, agents, ecological consultants, Habitat Bank providers, landowners/managers etc.
Please also visit the relevant Devon LPA website for any specific BNG requirements
The Guidance Note will be updated as necessary to respond to changes in national guidance, local policy development (including the Local Nature Recovery Strategy) and our collective understanding of how to secure and deliver BNG.
The document provides information on:
Devon BNG Guidance, April 2024
Devon BNG Statement for Validation April 24
Other useful links for planning authorities, developers and consultant ecologists can be found here:
The Statutory Biodiversity Metric – requirements
Major Applications
BNG is calculated using the statutory biodiversity metric. This was developed by Natural England and uses ‘biodiversity units’ as a proxy for nature to calculate how a development will impact the biodiversity within that site. From 12 February 2024 onwards, only the current statutory metric will be valid for submission with major planning applications – the submission of any previous version of the metric will be refused.
There is no accreditation required for consultant ecologists to complete the ‘habitat’ and ‘linear’ sections of the metric. However in order to complete the condition assessment for the ‘river’ section of the metric, the consultant ecologist must provide evidence that they have completed the required MoRPh Professional and River Condition Assessment (RCA) training.
Statutory Biodiversity metric and guidance from Natural England
Calculate biodiversity value with the statutory biodiversity metric
Minor Applications
From the 2 April 2024, biodiversity net gain is also mandatory for small developments.
The Statutory Small Sites Metric is used to calculate biodiversity value for the purposes of biodiversity net gain for ‘small sites’. Small sites are defined as not major developments under the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015). This means:
Biodiversity net gain now applies to small developments
Offsite BNG Delivery in Devon, including Habitat Banks
There will be some circumstances when the full BNG requirement cannot be met within the application site boundary and off-site BNG will be required. Habitat Bank providers and interested landowners are asked to add their details to our map in order that developers and consultants can contact them.