Biodiversity Net Gain

This work strand also flows from the Environment Act. The current focus of Sussex Nature Partnership is to understand how biodiversity net gain will be implemented in practice and to provide training and knowledge sharing on this topic for local authorities.  The partnership will also seek opportunities to work with local authorities and government agencies to better understand how biodiversity net gain can be used in a strategic way to help deliver Local Nature Recovery Strategies.

Work in this area is guided by a Biodiversity Net Gain Working Group, chaired by Bridget Fox (Woodland Trust).

A Task & Finish Group was set up in early 2023 to produce interim guidance for BNG for Local Planning Authorities in Sussex, ahead of formal guidance to be published by government later in the year. This was completed in August 2023 and circulated to all LPAs across Sussex with follow-up training webinars planned for September and October. If you work for a local planning authority and would like a copy of the guidance or a place on one of the webinars, please contact our Secretariat on SussexLNPSec@eastsussex.gov.uk.

Documents and resources

Technical work in this area to date has focused on responding to the three consultations on Biodiversity Net Gain published by Defra in 2022. These responses were developed by the BNG Working Group with additional comments and input from the wider Local Authority Network.

• Response to Defra consultation on Biodiversity Net Gain Regulations and Implementation (April 2022)
• Response to Defra consultation on the Principles of Marine Net Gain (August 2022)
• Response to Defra Technical Consultation on the BNG Metric (September 2022)

Other work in this area has focused on knowledge sharing and increasing ‘readiness’ within local authorities in Sussex. See the Local Authority Network page for details of webinars held on this topic.

Several earlier online events were held on BNG in 2020-21. Recordings of these events will be made available soon.