Has BNG taken root? – Matt Evans speaks to The Planner
A year on from the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) policy coming into effect for both major and minor developments, the lower-than-expected delivery is being evaluated against the required minimum 10% BNG for these sites.
How actionable the policy is in real terms is being highlighted, and Matt Evans, Partner in our Planning Team, has spoken to The Planner on how developers are pushing for their results.
“Expertise provided by the developer is driving the process, with quite a few councils relying on what is provided”, he says – a common solution to where local authority constraints, such as resourcing and capacity, impact their ability to meet developer needs and ecologically assess applications.
With the minimum terms for management plans of these BNG sites being for 30 years, it may be too hasty to discredit the work being done. However, with shortfalls in the hectares of off-site land set aside for BNG, there is evidence more support is needed to properly implement the policy.
Once local authorities are able to provide that, BNG has the potential to be a hugely impactful policy for habitat creation.
Read the full article in The Planner here.
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