Following my colleague Sophie Smith's post yesterday, the Government has formally announced that the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) go live date is being pushed back to January 2024. The delay was expected given that the raft of necessary regulations and guidance are still awaited. The announcement confirms these will be published by the end of November and provides a list of what is to be expected.
Rather optimistically it is suggested this "will ensure that developers and planning authorities have access to the necessary tools and information to effectively implement Biodiversity Net Gain in January 2024." I'm not sure such a deluge of information a month before Christmas is really the Christmas present local planning authorities, developers and practitioners were after! It feels a very tight time frame to get to grips with the important technical and practical detail. It will be an additional burden on local authorities given the considerable concerns already about the shortfall in expertise and resources to deal with this new environmental requirement.
In DEFRA's words, BNG still feels very much like a baby elephant. The "herd" of regulations and guidance is coming to help it but it's rather late in the day.
Good luck baby elephant - the environment and I are routing for you!
Under the updated timetable set out today developers in England will be required to deliver 10% “Biodiversity Net Gain” from January 2024 onwards when building new housing, industrial or commercial developments meaning by law they must deliver a net positive for the local environment, for example by creating new habitats and green spaces. Biodiversity Net Gain for small sites will be applicable from April 2024, and implementation for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects is planned for 2025.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/biodiversity-net-gain-moves-step-closer-with-timetable-set-out
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