Biodiversity Net Gain

Whether you require our assistance in undertaking the calculations, creating your biodiverse landscape, managing your habitats, or monitoring your site, then Elite Ecology can work with you at all stages of the process.

Biodiversity net gain (BNG), now part of UK Legislation under the Environment Act 2021, is to become mandatory for all developmental projects within England. BNG will become a vital part of planning applications and will influence on how local authorities decide on granting planning.

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What is BNG?

BNG is on of several methods to halt the decline of biodiversity in the UK by 2030. BNG aims to assess the baseline value of a site so biodiversity and implement methods to counteract the potentially negative impacts of a development project through retaining features that can not be replaced, improving the conditions of retained habitats and the addition of new habitats to provided for local fauna. BNG not only aims to the biodiversity lost during the development but also increase it by a minimum of 10%

Our ambition is to ensure you, the client, can obtain the desired plans, whilst also ensuring you meet your planning policy obligations to ensure a net gain.

Principles of BNG

The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) provided ten principles that all projects should follow to ensure developments meet a successful BNG score. These ten principles are:

Utilise the mitigation hierarchy to minimise impact on biodiversity
Eliminate impacts on biodiversity that cannot be offset elsewhere
Involve all development stakeholders in forming biodiversity net gain solutions
Understand the potential risks and variable factors to achieving biodiversity net gain
Determine a measurable biodiversity net gain contribution
Ensure the best possible outcomes from biodiversity net gain
Offer nature conservation that exceed the requirements
Focus on generating long-term benefits from biodiversity net gain
Cover all areas of sustainability, incorporating economical and societal factors
Communicate all biodiversity net gain outcomes with complete transparency

Our Aims

The aims of our Biodiversity Net Gain reports are:

To establish the baseline value of the site.
Calculate lost Habitat, Hedgerow and River units at the Site of the Proposed Scheme.
Calculate the total number Habitat, Hedgerow and River units which will be created, retained and/or enhanced under landscape and ecological mitigation proposals at the Site of the Proposed Scheme.
To determine whether the Proposed Scheme will result in a net loss, no net loss or a net gain for biodiversity.
to make further recommendations to gain the required 10% minimum net gain for biodiversity and implement CIEEM’s ten principles.

Does your project need a net gain?

Under the Environment Act 2020, projects will need to submit and receive approval for what is known as a ‘biodiversity net gain plan’ to secure planning permission. This is none negotiable – no plan, no planning permission. The legislation states that planning permission should only be granted on the condition that the development enhances the biodiversity value of the site to a better state.

Our friendly, experienced staff are happy to talk to you about options and will walk you through the process to ensure that the final plans meet all expectations.