Biodiversity Net Gain For Landowners

The owner or leaseholder of the natural environment/ land that provides the habitats is responsible for the creation, preservation, enhancement and maintenance of the habitat created for a minimum of 30 years from the date of the completion of the development sites. The owner of the biodiversity units could be the developer unless the land is sold to a new owner OR the landowner if they leased the land directly to the developer, local authorities OR the biodiversity broker who leased the land from the landowner. As a BNG broker, Civity assumes the responsibility of looking after the land for the 30-year BNG period. Local planning authorities are also involved in overseeing the implementation of Biodiversity Gain Plans and providing planning permission.

Landowners who deliver biodiversity units can benefit financially from the rent derived from land that, until now, produced little or no revenue. This could be increased by entering into a maintenance contract for 30 years. The revenue we offer is reliable and consistent, based on the land management rather than the resulting yield. This means that years of bad weather or unforeseen planting failures will not result in lower incomes. It is all part of restoring the wild. Other benefits include no loss of facilities and the contribution the landowner makes to the ecology of the region.

Only a qualified ecologist can value the biodiversity value of the land. You could find one on the web, your professional advisor might help, OR you could contact Civity here.

The potential biodiversity net gain value of your land in Natural England will depend upon a number of variables, including:

• The area of the land
• Its accessibility
• Its current use as habitat banks
• Its potential as a habitat creation
• The condition of the land
• The type of land (woodland, riverbank, scrubb, arable etc)
• The rarity of the species that already inhabit the land
• The proximity to nearby development projects/ nationally significant infrastructure projects
• Its vulnerability to extreme weather

The Environment Act demands that, if possible, Biodiversity Units come from within the development site. If this is not possible, then adjacent to the site or nearby. If that is not possible, other biodiversity areas will be considered. A “Spatial Risk Multiplier” has the effect of reducing the value of biodiverse units the further away they are from the development site. However, sometimes more remote sites are better suited for the creation of rarer habitat types OR that have extra financial value because of a “Strategic Significance Multiplier”. So, there are opportunities to benefit from Biodiversity Net Gain at sites located not only near developing areas but also in more remote areas.

A Conservation Covenants is a legal agreement made between a landowner and a recognised body such as a conservation covenant charity, natural capital or a commercial entity whose business is to secure the health and perpetuation of wildlife in Britain even if ownership of the land changes hands. Conservation covenants (or similar legal arrangements such as Section 106 Agreements) will be necessary for biodiversity credit broking.

The biodiversity credit market is being established through private bodies, ‘responsible bodies’ (normally local authorities) and is open to competition. Biodiversity credit values are currently set by market rates in different areas of the country and will soon be benchmarked by DEFRA and Natural England who created the Biodiversity Metric. The government’s statutory credit price is deliberately a lot higher than the market price to promote use of the private offerings. If in doubt, contact should be made with either of these two organisations.

The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), of whom Civity is a leading member, ensures good practice amongst its members.