Biodiversity Net Gain

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a new government legislation that aims to ensure that nature does not lose out when land is developed.

This new legislation means that the biodiversity of a site is required to increase by 10% post development.

While in some cases the developer will aim to create natural features and habitats on the development site to meet this requirement, this cannot always be achieved. As such, there is an opportunity for landowners to be paid by developers to carry out habitat creation and enhancement on their behalf.

This offers an opportunity for landowners to make money whilst supporting nature, to diversify your income or to potentially get a return on land that is less productive.

Depending on the location of your land, size and condition of the existing habitats landowners can earn up to £20,000 per Biodiversity Unit (or a ‘BNG unit’).

The land used as part of BNG will need to be managed for nature for a minimum of 30 years. This is the timescale necessary for a natural habitat to fully establish and for species to recover. While this may seem like a long time for land to be tied up, the benefits of this scheme are it provides a secure, predicable income over a long period of time. This may be a valuable option for land that is not particularly valuable or productive.

Firstly, a baseline biodiversity assessment will need to be conducted on your land. Once done, the biodiversity units for different habitat options can be determined and discussed in terms of income they could generate. This survey is free and can highlight different payment opportunities for your land and provide you with information of what habitats you could create.

If you are interested in this free consultation then please contact Taylor at taylor-jane.l@bbcwildlife.org.uk or via phone on 07889 540926.