Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment in Hampshire

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Background

LHB Ecology was contacted by a planning consultant who was seeking ecological advice for a current planning application for a housing development comprising 36 residential units. The Local Planning Authority (LPA) requested a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) assessment for the development because there was woodland on site as well as other habitats such as scattered trees and grassland that would be removed to enable the proposed development. The LPA required the submission of a BNG assessment to support the planning application under a planning policy which was for all building developments to achieve no net loss to biodiversity post-development.

What we did

LHB Ecology was able to use an existing ecological report that had been completed for the proposed development to inform the BNG assessment. A desk based assessment was carried out which included a review of the ecological report, aerial imagery and the topographical survey to assess and quantify the existing habitats on site. The compiled data was entered into Natural England's Biodiversity Metric to calculate the baseline biodiversity units for the development site. We then analysed the proposed development plan using GIS software to determine which habitats will be retained and lost post-development as well as the proposed creation of habitats such as new tree planting. The post-development habitat data was also entered into the Biodiversity Metric which enabled the comparison of the baseline biodiversity units with the post-development biodiversity units to give an overall score i.e. a net change percentage which is indicative of biodiversity net gain or net loss.

What the outcome was

The client was provided with a BNG assessment report which they submitted to the LPA as part of their planning application. As the BNG assessment showed a net gain in biodiversity post-development, the LPA was able to make a planning determination which was a favourable outcome for the client.