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Legislation to be within the local authority ’ s area rather than anywhere in England as the legal requirements allow ( although the biodiversity unit score of a site is halved if it is more than one local authority away from the development site , so a site twice as large will be needed ).
If developers are able to shop around as to where they site their developments , will this unequal policy landscape deter them from local authority areas with more onerous obligations ? This is likely to come down to what impact such differences will have on development costs for them to carry more weight than other factors . This in turn will depend on the market price for offsite biodiversity units .
So far , the only publicly available information is the cost of the government ’ s last-resort biodiversity credits , which act as an effective ceiling for biodiversity units on the open market , since no-one will buy units that are more expensive than credits . The credit prices also give an idea of the likely relative cost of units depending on the habitat concerned , in line with the relative cost of credits . These vary widely from £ 84,000 per unit as the lowest price to a whopping £ 1.3m per unit for the rarest habitats for which credits can be purchased ( habitats of the highest distinctiveness cannot be bought off with credits and will have to be offset with bespoke compensation ).
Conclusion
A policy as wide ranging and complex as BNG will have all manner of implications , many of which are unforeseeable , however , there are some developments which we can realistically expect . One negative consequence is that BNG will become another weapon in the NIMBY armoury , allowing those who oppose new development to claim that the project does not provide the required ten per cent increase , and therefore must not be granted planning permission . This will probably continue , but developers already must deal with objections on many different grounds , so they will adapt to deal with these challenges too .
Two issues which will present problems initially are the differences in how wellprepared local authorities are , and the availability of offsite BNG land . Poorly funded local authorities may struggle to find the necessary ecologists to assess the biodiversity of developed and offsite BNG land , and it will take time to fill this skills shortage . The availability of BNG land for purchase by developers will be limited initially , as landowners have not yet fully embraced this opportunity and a marketplace needs time to develop , but this is likely to be a short-term problem , as landowners quickly realise that there is a gap in the market which they are opportunely placed to fill . ■
Angus Walker www . bdbpitmans . com
Angus Walker is Partner , Planning & Infrastructure , at BDB Pitmans . Angus is a member of , and formerly chaired , the National Infrastructure Planning Association as well as being a member of the Planning and Environmental Law Committee of the Law Society . BDB Pitmans has over 60 partners operating from four locations : London , Cambridge , Reading and Southampton . It offers clients strength and depth across practice areas including energy , transport , real estate , and technology and innovation .
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