Alex Standerwick
Natural Capital Manager
It’s now been over six months since Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became mandatory in England.
This strengthened focus on protecting and enhancing the natural environment is an initiative we support at Harworth, and the property industry undoubtably has a role to play in preventing , and helping to reverse, biodiversity loss.
While the concept of quantifying biodiversity is new, we – like others in the sector – have been focused on delivering environmental gain across our developments for many years.
There is, however, a need to look more closely at mandatory BNG and what its introduction has meant for developers. This is especially important in the context of the new Government’s focus on growth, which accelerated development is at the heart of plans for the delivery of new homes and spaces to support the growth of key industries in the coming years.
BNG – in its current form – poses a potential challenge to this agenda. As the practical implementation of the new legislation is complex, the public and private sectors need time to adapt to this needed, yet additional, planning requirement and this inevitably creates risk to development timescales.
As a master developer with several large-scale sites in regeneration, Harworth has been responding to the legislation over the last six months. So, what has our experience been, and what do we think needs to happen next?
BNG in practice – six months on
Harworth has always focused on delivering sustainable developments in the long term. Many of our schemes feature flourishing country parks that are home to a diverse range of wildlife and habitats, and we often deliver a net increase in biodiversity. We continue to build environmental gain into our masterplanning for new developments.
But not every site affords this opportunity. Each site has its own unique characteristics, and there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach for how BNG can be delivered. This is because BNG depends on a range of factors, such as the habitats present, the type and density of development, ability for onsite enhancement, and surrounding land ownership.
The development industry must therefore be proactive and creative in our thinking around how we can deliver the mandatory 10% uplift in BNG across all developments. Where it is challenging to meet the requirements, for example on complex brownfield sites, Harworth has looked at its wider land portfolio to assess where net gain can be delivered outside of the red line of development.
From our experience of dealing with BNG ahead of the mandatory introduction, we recognised the value of using surrounding land to deliver offsite habitat mitigation, Harworth benefits from a substantial land portfolio from both its heritage and, more recently, replenishing land supply following accelerated sales of serviced land and more direct development . The unique nature of this land provides us with the opportunity to create habitat banks. This is where we create biodiversity units with the knowledge that they will support future planning applications – with the intention of alleviating pressure on consent timelines, as well as aiding local planning authorities (LPAs) in providing a solution for net gain.
The delivery of these independent areas for habitat creation and enhancement supports nature recovery and often leads to greater environmental benefit than piecemeal habitat creation across developments.
Section 106 and Conservation Covenants
We’re making good progress in identifying potential habitat banks, but one of the challenges we are experiencing is actually securing the offsite compensation via either a Section 106 agreement with an LPA or a Conservation Covenant agreement from a Responsible Body.
In our experience to date, some LPAs have been unwilling to enter into Section 106 agreements to recognise habitat banks due to capacity and resource challenges.
Developers like us are also experiencing challenges with securing Conservation Covenants. There are currently only six Responsible Bodies on the Government’s list, which is simply not enough to cope with the volume of requirements coming through the planning system. This is consequently impacting the number of sites being added to the Net Gain register across the whole of England, where currently there are only eleven sites.
We need more supporting organisations to be introduced and LPAs to be provided with more support to cope with the demand for offsite compensation, or there is a risk that developments will be stalled.
There has also been inconsistency in how LPAs are approaching BNG across developments and how we are receiving varying advice from authorities. This is in part because there has been very little substantive detail provided through the legislation to enable them to navigate the mandating of this new policy.
What does the legislation mean for brownfield vs. green belt sites?
It’s also important to look at the type of development being brought forward and what this means from a BNG perspective.
The Government is prioritising brownfield redevelopment, but from our experience, it has been identified that the legislation may inadvertently penalise this in favour of the development of green belt land.
Consideration must be given here to the baseline for many brownfield sites – in contrast to green belt land which tends to be agricultural and as a result has a lower level of biodiversity, brownfield sites tend to be left unmanaged when their original use has ceased. During this time, habitats are often left to develop naturally and the baseline is therefore generally quite high.
Delivering a 10% BNG on sites like can be challenging and ultimately affect the viability of a scheme, such that some cases it can only be progressed through delivering other more pragmatic solutions.
What’s next?
It’s a positive thing that BNG has been made mandatory and as a sustainable developer we are being proactive in our approach, working closely with our local authority partners to respond to the legislation.
As we look towards the next six months and beyond, it will be essential for national policymakers to collaborate with developers to understand their experience of BNG to date and put in place steps to address some of the challenges.
In part this means better equipping LPAs with the knowledge and resources needed to apply the legislation, and ramping up the pace at which LPAs and Responsible Bodies can deliver offsite compensation.
Consideration should also be given to how BNG is applied to complex sites, specifically brownfield land, to ensure essential regeneration is not inhibited.