Preserving and promoting nature in construction – How can developers prepare for Biodiversity Net Gain? (31 Jan 2024)

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From February 12th Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) will be mandatory for major developments in England. This legislation is leading the way in promoting positive outcomes for nature in construction, but other policies and voluntary frameworks are gaining wider adoption.

Join myself and Emily Cole to learn how developers can prepare for BNG, what to expect for the future of biodiversity measurement and reporting, and how One Click LCA is supporting the industry with new tools.

If you already have questions for myself or Emily, let us know in the comments below! :point_down:

:date: Wednesday, January 31, 2024 :clock1: 10:00 GMT

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Such an interesting topic! I can’t wait to join this webinar.

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The law itself: Environment Act 2021

and the commencement order, with legal effect from 12 Feb 2024:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/30/part/6/enacted

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I’m looking forward to hearing and learning from the experts.
Pretty sure it’ll be a fruitful session.

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Thanks to everyone who joined the session, we had a great attendance and lots of good questions. Below are some of the questions there wasn’t enough time for, along with their answers.

Q: Do habitat plans under the BNG mandate automatically come with on-going maintenance routines? What happens if the habitats are not maintained for 30 years? How will that be monitored?

A: A Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan (HMMP) is required for all off-site biodiversity gains and ‘significant’ on-site biodiversity gains. What constitutes ‘significant’ can be seen on this page.

For gains that fall under off-site or significant on-site, they must be subject to a planning condition, section 106 agreement, or conservation covenant.

All planning applications will have to include a Biodiversity Gain Plan which does not need to be as detailed as the HMMP, but must include the post-development habitats and their condition.

While developers are responsible for delivering this, Local Planning Authorities (LPA) are encouraged to introduce enforcement plans to ensure delivery through monitoring.

Q: Do you have case studies where biodiversity net gain has been successfully integrated into large-scale projects, and what lessons can be learned from these examples?

A: There are some case studies available from Natural England, the public body that advise the government, on the use of Biodiversity Net Gain here.

There also are a series of interesting case studies collated by the Local Government Association here. These cover biodiversity and Biodiversity Net Gain specifically, but many also include wider topics of climate change and health and how these areas are interlinked.

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