East Suffolk Council
Biodiversity Net Gain
What is Biodiversity Net Gain?
The Environment Act 2021 (legislation.gov.uk) lays out how Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) can contribute to the recovery of nature whilst still allowing land to developed. The purpose of BNG is to ensure that more habitats are available, and that they are in a better condition, than before development occurred. All relevant planning applications will be required to demonstrate how they achieve 10% Biodiversity Gain as part of the development. This will involve the submission of a Biodiversity Gain Plan, Statutory Biodiversity Metric and Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan for approval by the Local Planning Authority.
BNG Implementation Timetable
The Government have phased the implementation of mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain as follows:
- 12 February 2024 - MandatoryBNG applies to Major developments from this date.
- 2 April 2024 - Mandatory BNG applies to Minor developments from this date.
- November 2025 - Mandatory BNG will apply to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) from November 2025
How to design BNG into a development
- A suite of national guidance on how developments can deliver the mandatory BNG requirement has been published
- Details of how BNG requirements should be considered in planning application determination is included as part of national Planning Practice Guidance
- If you consider that your development proposal is not eligible to deliver BNG it must meet one of the statutory exemptions published
To support the implementation and delivery of BNG in East Suffolk and help maximise the gains for biodiversity which can be achieved, East Suffolk Council is also preparing locally specific guidance on a number of topics.