Biodiversity Net Gain, guidance for developers and ecological consultants

The Town and Country Planning Act has been amended to make every grant of planning permission deemed to have been granted subject to the following planning condition:

The development may not be begun unless:

• a biodiversity gain plan has been submitted to the planning authority, and 
• the planning authority has approved the plan.

The purpose of the condition is to secure the biodiversity objective, which is that the biodiversity value attributable to the development exceeds the pre-development biodiversity value of the onsite habitat by at least 10%. This can be achieved through habitat creation or enhancement onsite; the provision or purchase of biodiversity units from a habitat bank; or in a last resort through the purchase of statutory credits; or a mixture of these.

However, although final information may only be required through the discharge of a pre-commencement condition, BNG is a material consideration when determining applications and 015-016 of the draft Planning Practice Guidance for Biodiversity Net Gain (opens new window) make it clear that the LPA needs to understand how the BNG requirement is to be met prior to determining the application, so that necessary planning conditions can be imposed and/or S.106 Agreements signed. Accordingly, extensive information is still required at the application stage, as national and local validation requirements.