Biodiversity net gain requirements
National requirements
Under the Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA) 1990, biodiversity net gain (BNG) will be mandatory for major developments from February 2024 and for small sites from 2 April 2024. This is subject to confirmed exemptions.
Unless exempt, you must demonstrate you have met the minimum mandatory requirement of 10% biodiversity net gain over the pre-development value of the site. The minimum information which you must submit is set in the The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) and listed in the National Planning Practice Guidance on biodiversity net gain .
The requirements include:
- a biodiversity statement
- a scaled plan
- a completed statutory biodiversity metric
The metric should be completed by a competent person with specialist knowledge of habitat types and conditions, such as an Ecologist, who can advise on the calculations. You can find an ecology consultant on the CIEEM website.
You must explain how a biodiversity net gain approach has been taken at the development site. This must be carried out in line with the ecological mitigation hierarchy of avoiding and minimising impacts first before BNG is applied.
The government has advice on exemptions from the BNG requirement. If you think your site is exempt, then you should include a statement in your application form to explain why. You might need to submit evidence with this statement. This is automatically included within householder application forms.
When submitting your BNG statement, make sure you:
- use the statutory metric as early as possible in the site design process to help avoid biodiversity loss;
- follow the biodiversity gain hierarchy which prioritises onsite BNG first;
- consider how BNG and the London Plan’s Urban Greening Factor policy G5 can be optimised at design stage. Meeting UGF can contribute towards the achievement of BNG;
- consider how the location of onsite biodiversity relates to adjoining habitats, green corridors or existing green space within the site and beyond the red line boundary;
- consider how suitable multi-functional biodiversity enhancements can form part of the site’s landscaping and amenity space strategy;
- check whether your site is in or close to a designated park, open space or Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs).
You should also ensure you have complied with other validation requirements as set out in our Full list of Planning Application Validation Requirements.
