Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a mandatory requirement under the Environment Act 2021, coming into force on 12 February 2024 for major developments and on 2 April 2024 for small sites. All qualifying developments must deliver a minimum 10% increase in biodiversity compared to the pre-development baseline.
The following are exempt from demonstrating BNG:
- Householder applications
- Development orders
- S73A applications
- S73 applications, if the original permission is prior to 12 February 2024 for a major development, and prior to 2 April 2024 for a small site)
- Self/custom builds on sites of ≤9 units or ≤0.5 hectare in size and which consist exclusively of dwellings which are self-build or custom housebuilding as defined in section 1(A1) of the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015
- ‘De minimis’ development
- BNG sites
- Application for approval of Reserved Matters
‘De minimis’ development are those which do not impact a priority habitat and impacts less than 25 square metres (e.g. 5 metres by 5 metres) of onsite habitat, or 5 metres of linear habitats (such as hedgerows).
Please note that for self/custom build sites, Bedford Borough Council requires that you complete the form below and include it as part of the application documentation, so we can assess whether the development is exempt. Please ensure you label the form as the self/custom build form for biodiversity net gain and include the application number it relates to (if this is known).
Application requirements
Unless exempt, your planning application must include biodiversity information, preferably prepared by a competent person. This is usually a qualified ecologist, but it may be a person with the knowledge and skills to perform specified tasks to complete and review biodiversity metric calculations.
The biodiversity information should begin with a habitat survey of your site, which will inform your submission using the latest statutory metric. The survey will establish the baseline biodiversity value against which your minimum 10% gain will be measured. We strongly recommend commissioning this survey at the earliest possible stage of your project planning.
You will also need to submit site plans clearly showing existing and proposed habitat types. A management plan covering a 30-year period is essential, detailing how new or enhanced habitats will be maintained and monitored over this timeframe.
Please note that applications submitted without adequate BNG information will not be validated.
When preparing your biodiversity metric
The applicable statutory biodiversity metric tool must be downloaded from the Government’s webpages, where you can also find guidance on how to prepare the metric spreadsheet. Find more information on the Statutory Metric Tools and Guidance page on GOV.UK.
Some practical guidance with preparing spreadsheets to submit with your application are the following:
- Open the File as normal and enable all content (so the macros are active) – you get a bar at the top sometimes asking you to allow or Trust the document.
- Go to File (top left), then Options (bottom of the list), then Trust Center, then select Trust Center Settings. Under the macro settings option (middle of the list) select “Disable VBA macros without notification” at the top. Say yes to all the windows that pop up.
- Go to File again, select Save as and under the file type at the top change from xlsm to xlsx. Save – say yes to all the pop-ups again.
If you then check the file, the headline results and habitat pages should be showing the results as they were in the macro-enabled version. If the results page has changed to all “0’s” you may have to repeat the above. This follows the MS Help Centre directions.
More guidance on preparing your Biodiversity Metric is available on how to Calculate biodiversity value with the statutory biodiversity metric.
If you have any issues with submitting documents on the Planning Portal please contact the Planning Portal directly for assistance. The portal also supplies information about how to reduce file sizes if a document exceeds 10MB.
Delivering biodiversity net gain
You can achieve the required 10% gain through several approaches. The preferred option is typically on-site habitat creation or enhancement within your development boundary. Where this is not fully possible, you may deliver improvements on other local sites through legal agreements, or purchase biodiversity credits from the Government, as a last resort.
Management and legal requirements
Your 30-year management strategy must clearly identify who will be responsible for maintaining the enhanced habitats. It should include a detailed monitoring schedule and specify how you will report progress to the Council. Contingency measures must be outlined in case initial approaches prove less successful than anticipated. These commitments will be legally secured through a combination of planning conditions and Section 106 agreement or covenant.
Planning success
The most successful applications consider biodiversity from the outset of project design, retaining existing valuable habitats wherever possible, to reduce the scale of compensation needed. In line with Government’s guidance and legislation, our priority is to see BNG delivered on the application site, although this may not always be possible.
In case you need to provide BNG fully or partially off-site, please refer to the Defra registry on GOV.UK for BNG sites. At present, there are no sites registered within Bedford Borough, which may increase your costs for delivering BNG off-site. This may however change in the future, depending on how property owners engage in offering their sites to create or improve biodiversity in the borough.
For further guidance go to the GOV.UK's Biodiversity net gain web pages. Currently the Council’s planning pre-application advice does not include ecology or BNG advice. This could change in the future, when we will be able to discuss the best way that your planning proposal can achieve BNG.