The RTPI has found that 61% of planners cannot confirm they will have resources in place to meet the November Biodiversity Net Gain deadline
New evidence published by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has found that with the Biodiversity Net Gain implementation deadline fast approaching, it is likely planners will struggle to meet requirements.
Introduced under the Environment Act, the measures require local planning authorities to assess and seek mitigation of the predicted biodiversity net gain impact of planning proposals.
The new rules will apply to new major applications from November 2023 and all minor applications from next April.
An ongoing survey of RTPI members found that:
- 61% of public sector planners cannot confirm they’ll have dedicated BNG resource and ecological expertise in-house in place by November.
- 79% of public sector planners believe that BNG practice would be improved with confirmation of additional ‘skills and staff’
- 78% of public sector planners believe that BNG practice would be improved with additional ‘guidance, advice and support’
- 54% of planners across the public and private sector believe that BNG practice would be improved by giving ‘case studies of best practice’
The RTPI also found that public and private sector planners have extremely low levels of confidence in the practical requirements of Biodiversity Net Gain.
This includes core aspects of the scheme such as: ‘identifying BNG receptor sites’, ‘interpreting the robustness of ecological reports and BNG proposals’, ‘using the biodiversity metric’ and ‘negotiating with landowners over site provision’.
In March, the Planner’s Careers Survey found that 38% of planners expected the ‘introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain requirements’ to be one of the biggest challenges they’ll face this year.
Planning departments are already under tremendous strain
Commenting on the results, RTPI chief executive Victoria Hills said:
“These new findings show that government is running out of time to prepare local planning authorities to assess biodiversity net gain on major planning applications as expected in November.
“The RTPI fully support the scheme’s intention to improve our natural environment and we’ll continue to engage with Ministers and officials behind the scenes to urgently clarify the details of new BNG regulations, funding and training.
“Our research found that 25% of local authority planners have left over the last seven years. Immediate clarity and support will be crucial to the successful implementation of biodiversity net gain and to avoid adding to England’s planning backlog.”
