{"id":138600,"date":"2024-04-10T10:09:52","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T09:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=138600"},"modified":"2024-04-10T10:09:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T09:09:52","slug":"defra-appoints-rsk-biocensus-work-landowners-conservation-covenants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/defra-appoints-rsk-biocensus-work-landowners-conservation-covenants\/138600\/","title":{"rendered":"DEFRA appoints RSK Biocensus to work with landowners on conservation covenants"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has appointed RSK Biocensus<\/a> as a ‘responsible body’ to work with landowners and developers on conservation covenants<\/h2>\n

Ecological consultancy RSK Biocensus \u2013 and specifically its biodiversity net gain (BNG) team RSK Wilding \u2013 is one of the first organisations authorised to work with landowners and developers to secure areas of conservation and biodiversity, including contracts such as conservation covenants.<\/p>\n

The ‘reponsible body’ was a new position created by the Environment Act 2021- according to RSK Wilding senior legal adviser Natalie Bryce- and allowed for contracts, known as conservation covenants, to be entered into.<\/p>\n

Convervation covenants are a new legal tool ‘for the public good’<\/h3>\n

Conservation covenants are agreements on how an area of land can be used and can include positive obligations, as well as restrictive ones.<\/p>\n

They have to be for the public good and have a conservation purpose.<\/p>\n

Once the conservation covenant has been agreed, it is registered as a local land charge and becomes binding for all future owners of the land.<\/p>\n

Defra\u2019s guidance during the consultation period described conservation covenants as a new legal tool to help landowners: \u201cLeaving our environment in a better state than we found it for future generations to enjoy requires long-term investment and stability. Where landowners seek to secure positive environmental outcomes, they have no adequate mechanism to secure those benefits over the long term. We need a new legal tool \u2013 conservation covenants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservation covenants will help developers meet new BNG requirements<\/h3>\n

Natalie added: \u201cThe beauty of conservation covenants is that they offer a quicker, more flexible and more effective way of ringfencing land for a certain use as opposed to using a planning obligation (or section 106 agreement).<\/p>\n

\u201cOur shared goal is for the landowner to be able to protect, conserve or enhance the land as they wish and get the planning permissions they need if BNG is needed<\/a> for a development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie said that the role of the responsible body was to provide the legal solution by way of a conservation covenant, which will be drafted by RSK Biocensus\u2019 legal team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will also monitor the landowner\u2019s obligations under the covenant to ensure the land is being used as it should. RSK Wilding, part of RSK Biocensus, will review the land management plans and collaborate with the landowner to agree the most beneficial system of monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that the system would be particularly useful given the recent change in planning law. \u201cFrom 12 February this year<\/a>, most planning permissions, with some exceptions, will be granted only if the landowner or developer can show that they are not just offsetting their biodiversity loss but are replacing it with a minimum 10% BNG over a period of 30 years or more.<\/p>\n

\u201cLandowners can create and\/or enhance areas for habitats on their land and register the resulting uplift in biodiversity units (along with a legal agreement) on the government\u2019s new biodiversity gain site register. These units can then be sold to developers that need to secure off-site BNG.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some examples of how the new construction covenant system could work include:<\/h3>\n