What you can count towards a development’s biodiversity net gain (BNG)
How developers can use habitat creation or enhancements to count towards their BNG.biodiversity net gain (BNG).
Applies to England
Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is mandatory from 12 February 2024.
If you’reyou creatingalready need to create or enhancingenhance habitat as part of your development, you may be able to count this towards your 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG.).
YouExamples canof stillother doschemes thisyou ifmay thebe habitatable requiredto forcount your development is to:include:
habitat creation or enhancement delivered to comply with
acertain statutoryobligationobligations orpolicy,policies,forsuchexampleas green infrastructure,environmentalsustainableimpactdrainage,assessmentor nutrient mitigation- mitigation and compensation measures for protected sites and species (for example, suitable alternative natural green space (
EIASANG),compensationsustainablehabitatdrainage provideproviding river basin management plan (RBMP) mitigation and enhancementmeasuresmeasures
What you can count in full, in part or not at all
You cannot include some habitat schemes in BNG calculations at all. There are other schemes that you can include:
- in full - for enhancing actions, such as green infrastructure (a developer can satisfy all their BNG requirements through the works, receiving 110% of their biodiversity units through them)
providein part - for mitigationorand compensationforactions,protectedsuchspeciesasornutrientsites,mitigationfor(atexampleleastnutrient10% of the developer’s biodiversity units must come from additional activities other than mitigation
IfExample: you’rea alsodeveloper providingalready off-sitehas to do nutrient mitigation andto compensationcompensate for protectedimpacts siteson andprotected species,species. thisThis maycounts countin part towards your BNG., Youso should do at least 10% of yourtheir total (110%) BNG throughshould othercome activities,from measures which are not nutrient mitigation. The development needs to achieve 11 biodiversity units, so nutrient mitigation can count for example,10 of these units. At least 1 unit should come from other on-site habitator creationoff-site andgains enhancement.or statutory biodiversity credits.
IfThe you’resame usingrules off-siteapply units,to what you needcan tocount legallywhether secureon-site theseor foroff-site. atFor leastexample, 30if years.something Youcan mustonly registercount themin beforepart theywhen taking place off-site, it can also only count in part when on-site, and vice versa.
How to count other schemes towards your BNG.
YouIf shouldyou notwant to count other habitat creation or enhancementsenhancement scheme work towards your BNG, ifyou you’remust alreadyinclude requiredit toin do this for:your:
restockingmetricconditionscalculation- biodiversity
relatinggaintoplan
For aexample, treeif fellingyou licenceare orcounting awork restockingfor notice
RBMPBNG, mitigationyou andshould enhancement
Youenter canit countinto RBMPyour mitigationmetric towardscalculation yourlike totalany BNG.other Ifhabitat you’recreation alreadyor providingenhancement RBMPwork. mitigationYou toshould preventalso deteriorationexplain asclearly partin of your development,biodiversity yougain shouldplan dohow at least 10% of your BNG throughis separatecoming activities.from habitat creation or enhancement outside the scheme.
If
Rules you’refor providingeach scheme
Name of scheme | How it can count towards BNG |
---|---|
Sustainable urban drainage (SUDs) | In full (in part when part of nutrient neutrality) |
Green infrastructure | In full |
River basin management plan (RBMP) enhancement | In |
River basin management plan (RBMP) mitigation | In part |
Nutrient |
In |
Suitable |
In part |
Environmental impact assessment compensation | In part |
Mitigation or compensation to |
In part |
Mitigation or compensation to |
In part |
District licensing | In part |
Restocking conditions relating to a tree felling licence or a restocking notice | Not allowed |
Remediation under the environmental damage regulations | Not allowed |
Last updated 12 February 2024 + show all updates
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Updated to state that biodiversity net gain (BNG) is mandatory from 12 February 2024. Also completely updated throughout to clarify the rules on what you can count in full, in part or not at all, including a table showing rules for specific schemes, and how to count other schemes towards BNG.
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First published.
Update history
2024-03-13 14:42
Updated to add that NatureSpace’s district licensing scheme counts in part towards BNG, and clarify that counting Natural England’s district level licensing (DLL) in part towards BNG is not available yet. Natural England is working on how DLL may be able to count towards BNG in future.
2024-03-13 08:07
Updated to clarify that counting district licensing in part towards BNG is not available yet. Natural England is working on how it may be able to count towards BNG in future.
2024-02-12 12:33
Updated to state that biodiversity net gain (BNG) is mandatory from 12 February 2024. Also completely updated throughout to clarify the rules on what you can count in full, in part or not at all, including a table showing rules for specific schemes, and how to count other schemes towards BNG.
2023-05-02 11:48
First published.