Another, day, another press release on planning reforms. This one will be of particular interest to those of our clients creating or considering creating habitat banks, offsite BNG units and phosphate units offsets for sale to developers who can not address those issues on-site. The idea is that, instead of developers having to find and fund their own offset and mitigation solutions, that will be provided by the state via delivery plans working with a delivery partner – for example, Natural England – in return for a payment into a new nature restoration fund.
The working paper is worth a read and, although not technically a consultation, comments are being sought.
The paper touches on BNG and says (at paragraph 27) that the proposals
“are not expected to have any substantive impact on the implementation of mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), which is a widely applicable planning obligation in England. BNG incentivises nature positive choices on development sites, with a developing private marketplace for off-site biodiversity units which the Government continues to fully support. This means that where a developer engages with the Nature Restoration Fund to address a specific environmental impact, the biodiversity gain requirement will continue to apply. This ensures developments are incentivised to reduce their biodiversity impact on site and secure future residents’ and / or local people’s access to nature. As we continue to develop this model, we will seek to identify opportunities to support the ongoing roll out and implementation of BNG.”
The statement that Government continues to support the private sector delivery of BNG units is welcome. Notwithstanding that, one of the questions asked in the feedback form is “Do you support a continued role for third parties such as habitat banks and land managers in supplying nature services as part of Delivery Plans?” with the available answers being “yes”, “no”, or “maybe” and a box for additional comments.
Anyone who has already invested time and resources in providing off-site BNG or phosphate mitigation, or who is considering doing so, may well wish to respond to the working paper, if only to answer that particular question. The link can be found here.
