Under the Environment Act 2021, achieving a minimum BNG of 10% became a mandatory requirement for developments in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in February 2024, unless the development meets the criteria for an exemption.

We have been providing BNG calculations, plans and assessments since March 2022. We therefore have a detailed working knowledge of the Defra BNG metric and how to provide achievable, realistic and demonstratable plans to meet the required post-development BNG.

‘Habitat banking’ is a new ecological market that farmers and land owners are able to access to monetise BNG on their land. Developments that cannot create a 10% gain on-site will be able to access and pay for enhancement on other sites by purchasing ‘biodiversity units’ via a private sector, off-site market. Farmers and land owners are able to register land and the associated biodiversity units as available for purchase by developers requiring off-site BNG units.

We can assist by creating baseline and proposed plans, BNG assessments and providing advice and guidance on habitat banking.