We are market leaders in identifying, negotiating, and formalising agreements between landowners and developers to secure offsite habitat and species mitigation solutions.
Our aim is to help developers, landowners, and planning authorities to move towards no net loss of biodiversity and achieve measurable net gains for nature, as introduced by the Environment Act (2021).
What is Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)?
BNG is an approach to development. It makes sure that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before the development.
In England, BNG is mandatory under Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021).
Developers must deliver a BNG of 10%. This means a development will result in more or better quality natural habitat than there was before development.
Working with:
- Landowners
- Ecologists
- Planning authorities
- Developers
- Renewables
Mitigating and offsetting solutions for developers
Our team works closely with multiple stakeholders throughout the planning application stages to support and simplify the mitigation and offsetting process, as well as providing comfort and certainty in relation to long-term monitoring and management of sites.
We have a network of ecologists and experienced solicitors who we work with to provide the required level of ecology input and legal documentation.
Popular schemes and solutions include:
- Sourcing and negotiating terms for the purchase of BNG units
- Farmland bird mitigation schemes e.g. skylark plots
- Reptile Translocations
- Temporary housing for species during construction, such as water voles.
We can advise on and prepare the required level of documentation for each stage of the planning process – memorandums of understanding, option agreements and offsite management agreements.