Lack of ambition on Biodiversity Net Gain leaves scheme missing the mark for nature one year on

Lack of ambition on Biodiversity Net Gain leaves scheme missing the mark for nature one year on - Wildlife and Countryside Link

New research from Wildlife and Countryside Link, as part of its Wilder By Design nature-friendly planning reform campaign, has found that just 680 hectares of land offsite and 93 ha on-site has been reported by Local Authorities under the BNG scheme, since the policy's introduction. This is just a fraction (less than 13%) of the 5,428 hectares of habitat Defra estimated was likely to be generated annually by BNG and is less than half the minimum amount of habitat expected to be delivered per year.

BNG was developed as part of the Environment Act and came into force on 12 February last year. The policy requires developers to create or enhance habitat to compensate for any harm to nature from new developments and deliver at least 10% “biodiversity net gain” (measured by the quality, extent, significance and type of habitats created). Developers are able to undertake nature recovery work on-site, or by purchasing credits for off-site habitat enhancements.
Based on Freedom of Information requests sent to the 317 local authorities in England, and analysis of the offsite Biodiversity Net Gain register, the new findings also show that:

In the offsite BNG register Local Authorities reported 680 hectares off-site have been set aside for nature recovery measures under BNG to date. This is an area similar in size to the Glastonbury festival.
In FOI responses Local Authorities reported a further 93 hectares of habitat gains on-site within developments (an area slightly bigger than London’s Clapham Common) that was created or enhanced for nature under BNG. The full extent of on-site gains is unknown. This reflects the lack of a requirement to report or monitor onsite BNG gains.
An additional 786 hectares of land have been proposed by Local Authorities as potential offsite habitat banks, but have yet to be approved.
Local Authorities are legally allowed to set requirements for gain above 10%. However, guidance from the last Government said that Local Authorities should not set requirements above the legally required 10% for BNG except in narrowly defined conditions. Only 4 Local Authorities in England (1.2%) have so far implemented more ambitious 20% BNG requirements.
Positively, 30 Local Authorities have upcoming policies which, if adopted, will require more than the minimum mandatory 10% net gain. 11 of these were not identified as doing so in research on BNG ambition in 2024. However, even if all these policies are put in place, only 1 in 10 Local Authorities will have schemes requiring over 10% BNG.
Since January 2024, 2 authorities have decreased their ambitions (Birmingham City Council has reduced proposals for BNG on all developments from 20% to 10% and the London Borough of Richmond reduced proposals for 20% on specified types of development to 10%).