Round table report: Balancing development with biodiversity in a shifting landscape

As land development increasingly aligns with environmental goals, developers are facing complex challenges. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements demand that development projects deliver a measurable improvement in biodiversity, a goal that calls for careful planning, resource allocation, and new processes to balance development with environmental stewardship.

The insights shared by developers and experts in this discussion delve into land acquisition, appraisal, regulatory compliance, and the need for practical tools and strategies to support sustainable development.

Developers highlighted the uncertainty that comes with bidding on land without clear landscape and environmental assessment data. This lack of clarity often means developers must make “educated guesses” about the ecological impact of their projects, which may lead to cost misestimations and missed opportunities

For Dale Ward, technical design manager at Kendrick Homes, “It’s very difficult for us before you’ve got reserved matters planning approval or a detailed site plan landscape. It’s challenging to appraise and work out how much we’re going to need to offset off-site.

“We look at the baseline and put that into our appraisal, but then you probably haven’t gone on to win the bid on the land, so then you have to take an educated guess as to what you know you’re going to be offsetting. For a developer, some kind of tool would be really useful”.

Similar challenges are being faced by Midlands developer Spitfire Homes. Frances Keenan, its planning manager said: “The difficulty for us is that front end part when you’re bidding for land. On a site in Solihull, we’ve been asked to put in a maximum number for BNG, but we haven’t got a landscape design because we haven’t won the site so why would you spend the money to go through and complete all these assessments – that’s obviously a risk item.

“We haven’t got a fully worked, approved scheme. Planners might say you need to lose X amount of houses, or you need to rejig this, so on that particular occasion, we’ve had to sort of do a best guess max cap”.

Keenan called for a system that would help developers get a more accurate and faster answer.

She said: “The system right now means I just have to contact people such as the Habitat Vault and different banks – and it’s quite a tedious process. I’m just having to go out to every single one getting quotes myself and that takes time. If you could find a map that showed you where units are that would be great”.

Ben Clarke, technical director for Wavensmere Homes says that sites with irreplaceable habitats may complicate BNG compliance.

He said: “There can be a site you’re looking at which has absolutely no ecology there, but then you can be caught out with one which has an irreplaceable habitat and you’re never, ever going to make that work, apart from with mammoth contributions off-site.

“Depending on the stage of acquisition, it’s more often than not too late at the point as you’re trying to submit or determine planning applications, complete assessments and spend time with a really good ecologist to do the work and find out how many units will be lost”.

Creating viable habitat banks is a huge challenge, especially given the high costs of land, maintenance, and monitoring over a 30-year period. Even though banks present an emerging revenue stream, they also involve complex financial, ecological, and logistical considerations.

Steve Brown, has been delving into the opportunities of providing BNG units for the Tara Group alongside other developers.

He said a huge factor is the “obligations involved with on-site BNG liabilities for 30 years and monitoring and passing those over to maintenance companies”.

Brown said: “Developers just want to be able to develop and move on, and don’t want those obligations for 30 years. It’s going to be very interesting to see how those are going to be tied up with Section 106s”.

With the 30-year commitment, Frances Keenan had looked into how Spitfire could manage the land involved rather than handing over responsibility.

She said however it could cause a huge risk liability”.

“For example, if there’s a climate change event – we’ve all seen massive flooding in the last couple of years. If that habitat were to fail, you’re then responsible for the cost of putting it all back in, which could be a huge risk liability that you haven’t faxed in from the beginning”.

With only 13 responsible bodies able to enter into conservation covenant agreements with landowners in England, there are only “seven habitat banks actually registered there that could be purchased” believed Steve Brown.

Victoria Longmore, partner and head of planning and highways at Lodders said: “Warwick County Council’s been doing BNG since 2020 – it took them eight months to be approved.

“There’s no units for people to buy, so you’re just stuck. It all came too soon as without the habitat banks being established, local planning authorities didn’t know what they were doing.

“Unless you’re doing it on-site, you’re effectively stuck, or you’re having to rely on statutory credits and pay a phenomenal amount.

“Local planning authorities have only just had the standard template section 106 from the planning advisory service, they’re really good, so they should help local planning authorities actually be confident in the drafts”.

A new industry has emerged through BNG says Marina Robertson, managing director of Acivico Group.

She said: “The challenges the country faces with regard to new homes will pose dilemmas when it comes to planning BNG, as the only real way to deal with that is by increasing permitted development rights.

“I can’t help but feel that we are operating in a very small part of a global problem that may just chip away all the efforts, just because of the kind of targets the country has.

“It’s not just about now it’s about the world in 30 years time. I’ve lived here for 30 years and came from Athens and know how warm the summers are. So there will be population migration and it won’t just be economic”.

Despite the difficulties ahead in the emerging policy, Eloise McGregor, associate technical director at Arcadis reminded the room that: “If we don’t do this now, it’s only going to get worse, and the environments that those people living in and those extreme events are going to be happening more.

“That’s why the policy has been put in place, to make our steps now for climate resilience and for all the other implications that BNG contributes to from a natural capital perspective such as food production, weather, climate – and it’s bigger than us as individuals.

“Unfortunately, yes, this has certainly placed quite a burden on you as developers, but the fact that it is in policy shows the significance of that, and therefore shows that there needs to be a shift, as you said, the beginning there, that it has created its own industry and revenue generation, which is obviously the habitat banking.

“It’s very early on, but it’s something that can really be kind of additional revenue. It is complex with different habitat types and risk factors where values seem to be changing. But considering BNG from the beginning and changing your mindset when looking at land acquisition means that could potentially unlock land that you wouldn’t ordinarily see as being viable”.