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What is biodiversity net gain?

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is a new legal requirement that developments (unless exempt) need to comply with from 12 February 2024 onwards.

It requires developments to leave the natural environment in a measurably better condition by insisting that all sites give back a 10% biodiversity uplift.

What is the new legislation?

Biodiversity net gain has been introduced by amendments to The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in the Environment Act 2021¹ and makes biodiversity gain a condition of planning permission.

This new legislation will require planning applicants to produce a 'Biodiversity Gain Plan' and to provide detailed metric calculations on how much biodiversity is on the site before and after development.

This will then allow agreement on the measures taken to ensure the gain, and that they are monitored during development and the life of the project.

Who is involved?

The new law makes biodiversity net gain a requirement for nearly all new build developments, including small developments (nine units or less).

While householder extensions and a few other types of development are exempt, it may be advisable to nonetheless comply with the biodiversity net gain process to help ensure compliance with LPA requirements.

When do the biodiversity net gain rules take effect?

The new law came into force in England on 12 February 2024 for most sites, including small sites from 2 April 2024.

How does this affect my application?

A mandatory ‘Biodiversity net gain’ question must be completed for all applications for planning permission (full, outline and household, including demolition in a conservation area).

Where biodiversity net gain applies

Where the requirements apply, you will be required to provide the relevant details, including supporting documentation.

Within the application the following details are required:

• Pre-development biodiversity value, including date of calculation
• Version of the biodiversity metric used
• Details of any activities carried out prior to the calculation of the biodiversity value
• Details of irreplaceable habitats

Supporting documentation

Alongside your application you will be required to submit supporting documents to ensure all work is completed in accordance with regulations.

• Biodiversity metric: A completed metric must be submitted with all applications where the requirements apply. The metric is used to calculate the biodiversity value of the development. The statutory biodiversity metric and related guides have been published by government².
• Biodiversity gain plan: The biodiversity gain plan can be submitted at the same time, or after the application has been submitted. It is used to discharge the biodiversity gain condition that is placed on an application. In most cases, once the local authority approved the biodiversity gain plan, development may begin.
• Onsite irreplaceable habitats: A plan showing the onsite irreplaceable habitats for the existing and proposed development site may be required. These should locate the irreplaceable habitats listed in Table 1 and 2 of the Schedule of The Biodiversity Gain Requirements (Irreplaceable Habitat) Regulations 2024³.

Where biodiversity net gain does not apply

There are several exemptions that may apply to your development, meaning the biodiversity gain requirements are not relevant to your application. The primary exemptions are:

• householder planning applications (the specific question in the householder application will allow applicants to confirm their exemption from the requirements),
• developments below a set threshold (de minimis exemptions).

A full list of exemptions is available in the government guidance.⁴

If you are exempt, you will be required to select the relevant exemption(s) and evidence why you believe your proposal is not subject to the requirements.

How can I find out more information about the biodiversity net gain rules?

Planning Portal have partnered with Joe’s Blooms⁵ to offer information about their biodiversity net gain tools. Joe’s Blooms easy-to-use web tools can help to ensure applicants can easily comply with the new rules. The service provides intuitive tools that allow developers, architects and others to understand the biodiversity net gain process, easily enter all the information they need to enter about their site, produce high-standard, statutorily compliant documents. It streamlines the entire process whilst helping applicants to make cost-effective and environmentally-friendly decisions.

The easy-to-use service lets applicants:

• Find out which requirements apply to their specific site or project;
• Streamlines the process of surveying their site;
• Discover possible options for compliance and assess their cost and effectiveness through our simple step-by-step-step process;
• Automatically generate the mandatory documents their planning application needs, tailored to your project and guaranteed to be statutorily compliant.

Learn more about Joe’s Blooms and how we can help⁶.

1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/30/schedule/14
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-biodiversity-metric-tools-and-guides
3. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/48/schedule/made
4. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/biodiversity-net-gain-exempt-developments
5. https://planningportal.pp.tqinfra.co.uk/permission/commercial-developments/biodiversity-gain-tool
6. https://planningportal.pp.tqinfra.co.uk/permission/commercial-developments/biodiversity-gain-tool