Meadfleet’s Operations Director, Samantha Hursey, provides an update on the register for offsite Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units:
It was fantastic to get to see the demonstrations held recently of the upcoming Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Register delivered by Natural England and DEFRA the two key bodies developing policy and legislation on BNG.
It was outlined that there is still a way to go in the development of the register due to go live in November. The demonstration provided a working example of how to register units and allocate them, but they were unable to provide a working visual at this stage of how the public can find information about the land used for BNG. It was also clear that the register will be for off-site allocations and has not been designed to display on-site gains as this was not a requirement of the primary legislation. Monitoring data will also not be available as this was stated to be outside of its core purpose.
Land for the delivery of off-site units can be registered (for a fee of £100-£1000) as early in the process as you like but must be undertaken before a development is submitted for planning approval. It can also be registered and allocated to a development that requires the units at the same time. To register units, it requires the following information:
- The boundary of the land
- A completed biodiversity metric 4.0 for the off-site land
- A habitat management and monitoring plan (template document pending)
- A legal agreement securing the habitat enhancement, monitoring and management for 30 years
- Consent from the landowner
- Proof of ownership of the land
The legal agreement must be in the form of a S106 agreement with the local planning authority or by way of a conservation covenant with a responsible body. There currently are no responsible bodies at this time. The local authority or responsible body will enforce compliance of the agreement.
To allocate land/units to a housing development you will need:
- The biodiversity gain site reference number from the register
- The biodiversity metric 4.0 for your housing development
- The housing development details including name, Local authority and reference
- Confirmation of the offsite gain to be used
- Consent from the landowner of the registered land
A few additional points of note include;
- The 30-year timer commences following the completion of enhancement works/initial installation
- Excess unit gains onsite for a development can be registered for use as off-site gains for a different development
It was clearly stated, disappointingly, that the register is not going to function as a marketplace platform for buying and selling BNG units, but they remain unclear if registered (and unallocated) land will be able to be viewed or whether it will only be allocated land that will be visible. With the prerequisite that on-site gains are to be the primary form of delivery, with off-site unit allocations the preferred second choice and statutory credits a last resort I am surprised that the opportunity for a central non-biased register of available off-site units has not been utilised?
Guide prices for statutory credits are expected to be released in the next few months but have stated they will be non-competitively priced to ensure they remain a last resort.
Samantha Hursey
Operations Director
MSC in Ecology & Conservation
To learn how Meadfleet can manage Biodiversity Net Gain on your open spaces, please get in touch:
enquiries@meadfleet.co.uk / 01438 890780
Read more about Biodiversity Net Gain:
Meadfleet’s Operations Director Comments on new Biodiversity Net Gain laws
