Eight NGOs and business groups sent a letter to the British government on Thursday asking for the removal of some developer exemptions from the biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements in England.
Planning Portal website, project developer Environment Bank, and local authority group UK100 were among the companies who wrote to housing and environmental politicians.
Earlier this week, lawmakers and nature-focused organisations gathered for a roundtable in Westminster on BNG exemptions hosted by Labour politician Luke Murphy.
“It was heartening to see huge support for BNG at the event in parliament. Attendees were united in the need to close some of the exemption loopholes as soon as possible so we can unlock the full benefits of BNG,” said Alexa Culver, general counsel at Environment Bank.
“MPs and peers from all parties have heard our message that common-sense tweaks will help this world-leading policy realise its full potential,” Culver told Carbon Pulse.
Environment Bank is confident the government will change the exemptions, she said.
Developers in England have had to plan to boost nature by 10% since February under BNG requirements. The policy has been praised as world-leading but demand has been slow to take off.
One of the key concerns for market actors has been ‘custom build’ exemptions – for sites of up to nine dwellings, on areas up to 0.5 hectares, built by individuals.
BNG could be a win-win for both nature and housebuilding, unlocking private investment in our local habitats at little public expense, the letter said.
However, “progress is threatened by a number of exemptions within the BNG policy framework, introduced by the previous government, that have allowed some developers to ‘opt-out’ of their responsibility to restore the natural environment”, the letter said.
“To fulfil the government’s ambition to ‘speed up nature’s recovery’ and promote sustainable development, these loopholes must be addressed.”
NATURE IMPACT
The letter asked the government to remove two exemptions from BNG:
- De minimis exemption: For sites impacting less than 25 square metres of non-zero distinctiveness habitat, and less than 5 sq. m of hedgerow, and does not impact priority habitat.
- Custom build exemption (see above).
“Until these exemptions are removed and measures are put in place to ensure BNG applies to the vast majority of planning applications in England, we cannot be confident that this policy will have a meaningful impact on nature recovery,” said the letter.
No official figures have shown the proportion of planning applications submitted since February this year subject to BNG. Carbon Pulse has asked the government for clarity on the topic.
Executive signatories to the letter were from:
- Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
- Environment Bank
- Planning Portal
- Joe’s Blooms
- BNGx
- Arcadian Consulting
- UK100
- Architects Climate Action Network
By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com
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