Biodiversity Net Gain

Once planning permission has been granted and before the commencement of development, a finalised Biodiversity Gain Plan must be submitted and approved by the Council.

The Biodiversity Gain Plan will be secured by condition.

The final Gain Plan must include:

• a statement which sets out steps taken to minimise adverse effects on biodiversity
• the completed biodiversity metric showing pre and post-development biodiversity value
• any registered off-site BNG units allocated to the development and their value
• any biodiversity credits purchased
• a description of arrangements for maintenance and monitoring habitat enhancements for a minimum of 30 years
• how the Biodiversity Gain Hierarchy will be followed
• pre-development and post-development plans, to scale, showing onsite habitat
• arrangements for compensation for any irreplaceable habitat, where relevant

There are also additional requirements including:

• the name and address of the person completing the plan
• the planning reference number
• a description of the development to which the plan relates

Requirements for Phased Development

A phased development is a development that has outline planning permission where the permission identifies clear phases for development, which would be subject to subsequent reserved matters approvals.

These requirements do not apply to outline and reserved matters applications where the development is not delivered in phases. 

Phased development must submit:

• an Overall Biodiversity Gain Plan before the commencement of any development
• a Phase Biodiversity Gain Plan for each phase before the commencement of that phase 

The Overall Biodiversity Gain Plan should set the framework for how the minimum 10% BNG is expected to be achieved across the entire development.

Each Phase Biodiversity Gain Plan should set out each phase’s contribution and track progress towards the overall biodiversity gain objective.

It's envisaged that the Phase Biodiversity Gain Plan would be submitted at the Reserved Matters stage for each phase. 

Further details of what each Biodiversity Gain Plan should include are set out in Government Guidance.