Overview
New legislation introduced by the Environment Act (2021) requires developers to demonstrate a minumum of 10% net gain in biodiversity in order to gain planning permission. This new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) legislation has the potential to bring benefits to wildlife in Oxfordshire if implemented effectively.
What we're doing
We commissioned the development of an evidence base that can be used by Local Planning Authorities who decide to make developers deliver a net gain of greater than 10%.
The report found that Oxfordshire is highly nature-depleted, with far lower proportions of priority habitats and protected areas than the average for England as a whole. Also, the remaining semi-natural habitats in the county are at risk of further loss and fragmentation due to development. It concluded that the national minimum target of 10% BNG will not be sufficient to reverse the historic losses caused by development during the current local plan periods, and make a meaningful contribution to delivering the national and local biodiversity targets for 2030. Other councils in a similar position have also selected higher targets, e.g. 20% in Surrey. Even higher targets could be needed to be confident that genuine gains will be delivered, when the governance issues associated with delivering on-site habitats are taken into account.
We are using this evidence base to advocate for Local Planning Authorities to implement a higher target than the 10% minimum where possible.
Related publications
Towards a nature-first neighbourhood plan
Neighbourhood plans can play an important role in protecting and restoring your local nature. Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership has created this document to help inform thinking about the types of policy that might be developed for a given Neighbourhood Plan (NP). It includes policy examples from existing neighbourhood plans, and guidance on the steps to take when developing a draft neighbourhood plan.
Oxfordshire Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) guiding principles
The Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership proposes that Oxfordshire's Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) adopt the principles the working group, which includes representatives from local authority planning departments, have developed for Biodiversity Net Gain implementation.
The intent of these principles is to ensure that Biodiversity Net Gain is implemented in a way that supports the spirit of the Environment Act 2021 and maximises Biodiversity Net Gain’s potential impact on nature recovery in Oxfordshire. They are designed to facilitate a harmonised approach across all local authority areas, recognising that some local variations may be inevitable and indeed beneficial. Our aspiration is that they will provide a common framework within which local authorities, developers, conservation bodies, farmers and landowners work together to protect and restore our county’s nature.
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