What you can count towards a development’s biodiversity net gain
How developers can use habitat creation or enhancements to count towards their biodiversity net gain (BNG).
Applies to England
Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is mandatory from 12 February 2024.
If you already need to create or enhance habitat as part of your development, you may be able to count this towards your 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG).
Examples of other schemes you may be able to count include:
- habitat creation or enhancement delivered to comply with certain statutory obligations or policies, such as green infrastructure, sustainable drainage, or nutrient mitigation
- mitigation and compensation measures for protected sites and species (for example, suitable alternative natural green space (SANG))
- providing river basin management plan (RBMP) mitigation and enhancement measures
What you can count in full, in part or not at all
You cannot include some habitat schemes in BNG calculations at all. There are other schemes that you can include:
- in full - for enhancing actions, such as green infrastructure (a developer can satisfy all their BNG requirements through the works, receiving 110% of their biodiversity units through them)
- in part - for mitigation and compensation actions, such as nutrient mitigation (at least 10% of the developer’s biodiversity units must come from additional activities other than mitigation and compensation)
Example: a developer already has to do nutrient mitigation to compensate for impacts on protected species. This counts in part towards BNG, so at least 10% of their total (110%) BNG should come from measures which are not nutrient mitigation. The development needs to achieve 11 biodiversity units, so nutrient mitigation can count for 10 of these units. At least 1 unit should come from other on-site or off-site gains or statutory biodiversity credits.
The same rules apply to what you can count whether on-site or off-site. For example, if something can only count in part when taking place off-site, it can also only count in part when on-site, and vice versa.
How to count other schemes towards your BNG
If you want to count other habitat creation or enhancement scheme work towards your BNG, you must include it in your:
- metric calculation
- biodiversity gain plan
For example, if you are counting work for another scheme in part towards your BNG, you should enter it into your metric calculation like any other habitat creation or enhancement work. You should also explain clearly in your biodiversity gain plan how at least 10% of your BNG is coming from habitat creation or enhancement outside the scheme.
Rules for each scheme
| Name of scheme | How it can count towards BNG |
|---|---|
| Sustainable urban drainage (SUDs) | In full (in part when part of nutrient neutrality) |
| Green infrastructure | In full |
| River basin management plan (RBMP) enhancement | In full |
| River basin management plan (RBMP) mitigation | In part |
| Nutrient neutrality or mitigation | In part |
| Suitable alternative natural green space (SANG) | In part |
| Environmental impact assessment compensation | In part |
| Mitigation or compensation to a special area of conservation, special protection area, or protected species | In part |
| Mitigation or compensation to functionally linked land (FLL) | In part |
| NatureSpace district licensing | In part |
| Natural England district level licensing | In part, but not available yet |
| Restocking conditions relating to a tree felling licence or a restocking notice | Not allowed |
| Remediation under the environmental damage regulations | Not allowed |
Updates to this page
Published 2 May 2023Last updated 13 March 2024 + show all updates
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Updated to add that NatureSpace’s district licensing scheme counts in part towards BNG, and clarify that counting Natural England’s district level licensing (DLL) in part towards BNG is not available yet. Natural England is working on how DLL may be able to count towards BNG in future.
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Updated to clarify that counting district licensing in part towards BNG is not available yet. Natural England is working on how it may be able to count towards BNG in future.
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Updated to state that biodiversity net gain (BNG) is mandatory from 12 February 2024. Also completely updated throughout to clarify the rules on what you can count in full, in part or not at all, including a table showing rules for specific schemes, and how to count other schemes towards BNG.
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First published.