Biodiversity Net Gain

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)… Heard of it? No idea what it’s about? Don’t know how it applies to you? You’re not alone!

In a nutshell it means that new developments must improve the biodiversity of a site by 10% from its initial state. This means that measurements need to be taken before even the planning and design phases to set the biodiversity baseline. Improvement measures can then become a central part of the planning and design process right from the beginning rather than an after thought. Working the process this way gives a far more successful result in terms of biodiversity and a unique character to the development.

There is also the opportunity for landowners who don’t intend to develop to become part of the process. Though the preferred route is to increase biodiversity on site, where this isn’t possible developers are able to approach local landowners to fund a beneficial and appropriate biodiversity project.

BNG is currently a condition of planning applications to influence developers and increase local biodiversity. It is expected to become mandatory in England by the end of 2023.

So, if biodiversity net gain is something that you need or want to address, give us a call to discuss how we can become that cog in your team that does the assessments and measurements as well as the site planning and design, so that you can concentrate on driving your business.