Panel: Hannah David – Planning Futures (chair); Nick White – Natural England; Grace Pinault – Dentons; Richard Crawley – Planning Advisory Service; Sean Rooney – Environment Bank 

The first anniversary of the new biodiversity net gain (BNG) regime saw the publication of a range of articles and reports on how the new system, designed to boost the natural ecology of development sites, has fared over the last twelve months.

Whilst it may take some time to evaluate the long-term effects of the policy, and the extent to which it will achieve its objectives, it is clear that some stakeholders have experienced issues in terms of early implementation.

Several sources have cited capacity problems both within the public and private sector. Some local authorities have reported a scarcity of in house ecology skills, whilst both councils and private sector firms have raised concerns about the availability of suitably qualified consultants.
Some have raised concerned about the availability of off-site provision, and the capacity of the market for BNG credits to meet the demand created by the new system. Whilst others have cited confusion about how the policy is supposed to work in practice, with the NAO arguing that the policy was launched before “having all the elements in place” for success.

Nevertheless, the overall policy and its goals still command significant cross-sector support, and with last year’s change in government, there has been no indication that the new BNG rules will be scrapped.

As we look forward to year 2 of mandatory BNG, this event, certified by the CPD Certification Service, will bring together key experts to discuss the lessons learned to date and the shape of things to come for biodiversity net gain.

It will consider:

• The way in which the new BNG regime has been understood by all planning stakeholders, any issues of interpretation or ambiguity that have arisen, and the need for any further clarification and policy guidance from government.
• Any ongoing capacity issues, and how these might be resolved over the short to medium term.
• The challenges that will need to be overcome by both public and private sector stakeholders as the system beds in further over the coming years.