According to calculations made by software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider AiDash, relying on traditional approaches to biodiversity net gain (BNG) could be costing UK developers over £300,000 per day.
The firm says that this has already cost developers £12 million since regulations came into effect on 12 February 2024. New regulations have meant that, since February 2024, a BNG of at least 10% is required for most new developments in England.
AiDash emphasises the danger of underestimating the level of change required to meet BNG demands, claiming that submitting planning applications without a BNG plan or biodiversity baseline can delay the process by weeks or even months.
It also acknowledges complications with BNG credits such as cost and availability. Purchasing these credits can be an effective way to meet BNG requirements, but may be more of a last resort for some companies rather than a first choice. This is because while the base price in the original legislation was proposed to be £20,000 per credit, the latest guidance from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) suggests credits can range anywhere from £42,000 to £650,000 in cost.
Credits must also be purchased in close proximity to the development and the purchase must be approved by the local planning authority, potentially leading to issues of scarcity.
As an alternative to buying credits, AiDash explains that new technologies using AI and satellite imagery can allow developers to ‘ensure accurate and reliable habitat mapping, assessing large areas quickly and efficiently, and producing compliant BNG plans aligning with the new BNG framework’.
Shashin Mishra, vice president of EMEA at AiDash, said: “There is no doubt that BNG is critical for the UK environment – the clock is ticking for us to reverse decades of intense biodiversity degradation. However, UK developers are facing huge unnecessary additional costs due to reliance on rigid and outdated approaches to BNG.
“It is time for a shift in approach, integrating AI and satellite technology as tools to complement and enhance the vital work of skilled ecologists. As the industry still grapples with high interest rates and recent setbacks in housebuilding – PMI readings in April were the lowest since January – it’s clear that developers must embrace new technologies to unlock significant savings and ensure the continued and successful delivery of new developments and BNG.”
On 17 May 2024, the National Audit Office published a report entitled “Implementing statutory biodiversity net gain”, in which it outlined the importance of biodiversity and what can be done to meet the government’s ambitions for BNG.
The report highlighted a 32% average loss in species abundance for 682 terrestrial and freshwater species between 1970 and 2021. It also noted that in 2020, the Natural History Museum reported that Britain had lost a larger proportion of its natural biodiversity than almost anywhere else in western Europe, and the most of all G7 nations.
It described BNG as ‘a way of creating and improving natural habitats and ensuring that land development has a measurably positive impact on biodiversity, compared to what was there before’.
Within the report, a list of recommendations were made, encouraging Defra to take action such as ensuring it retains sufficient capacity and capability to deal with any challenges requiring central government leadership or response, ensuring local authorities have sufficient and timely funding certainty to allow longer-term planning and publishing information annually on the impact of statutory BNG on overall biodiversity.
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