Discharging the Biodiversity Net Gain Plan Condition (BNG)

When a development is subject to Biodiversity Net Gain provisions, Tendring District Council will impose planning condition(s) on the decision notice.  

Where the onsite BNG requirement is considered to be ‘significant’ a legal agreement will be required to discharge the Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan for BNG Condition.

‘Significant’ (for onsite BNG) shall apply to all Major* development,

• Except for change of use proposals when there is no development resulting in change in vegetation and/or includes works.
• Except if demonstrated that the Biodiversity Units gained is less than 0.5.

Notwithstanding the above, any development (major or non-major, regardless of unit value) that includes the following is also considered ‘significant’:-

• Any development that includes the creation of green (planted) roofs on new buildings within the red line site plan area.
• Any development that includes new native woodlands and mixed native scrub, orchards and hedgerows (Woodland defined as greater than 20 trees, Hedgerow that is defined as more than 20 metres in total length regardless of breaks and separation) within the red line site plan area.
• Any development that includes the provision of tussocky grassland / wildflower meadow that totals 100 sq metres or more within the red line site plan area.

The Council reserves the right to add or amend the above list and/or determine that a development is defined as significant with clear reasons following consultation with our appointed ecologist.

*Major as defined by The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 as amended. (Same as NPPF Dec 2024 at time of writing)

Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the refusal of the BNG condition.

The process that should be followed to obtain the legal agreement ahead of your discharge of condition submission can be viewed via this link: Section 106 Process.

PLEASE NOTE:

If your application does not fall within the ‘significant’ category, then you may discharge your condition without the need for a legal agreement.  However, the biodiversity gain plan and metric must still be provided.

A legal agreement will not be required where off site credits are purchased. Your discharge of condition will need to be accompanied by evidence of purchase.

You are advised not to submit a discharge of condition application for BNG without suitable preparation and understanding of the requirements to ensure BNG objectives are met.

BNG Fees

Where a legal agreement is required, the applicants will pay a preparation fee and monitoring costs to cover the 30-year monitoring period set down in legislation.  The table below details the 2025/26 costs for BNG monitoring.  

In addition, costs for the preparation or assessment of legal agreements are as follows:

Preparation = To be confirmed

Assessment = To be confirmed

All fees are payable upfront.

BNG monitoring costs for 2025/26 are:

Useful Information

For the Biodiversity Gain Plan requirements, please refer to Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Schedule 7A amended by the Environment Act Sch 14.

In summary, the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) plan must achieve a minimum biodiversity net gain of 10% and should typically include the following:

• Steps taken or to be taken to minimise adverse effects of the development on the biodiversity of the on-site habitat and any other habitat.
• Pre-development and post-development biodiversity assessments of the on-site habitat.
• Allocation of any registered offsite biodiversity gain to the development and its biodiversity value in relation to the development
• Details of any biodiversity credits purchased for the development.

The Local Authority will ensure the submitted details meet the requirements of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended, Environment Act as amended, associated legalisation and guidance.

Ways to achieve 10% BNG may include:

1. Enhancement and restoring biodiversity on-site (within the red line boundary of a development site).

2. If proposals can only achieve part of their BNG on-site, they can deliver through a mixture of on-site and off-site. Developers can either make off-site biodiversity gains on their own land outside the development site or buy off-site biodiversity units on the market as close as possible to the site.

3. If developers cannot achieve on-site or off-site BNG, they must buy statutory biodiversity credits from the government. This must be a last resort. The government will use the revenue to invest in habitat creation in England.  

The Local Authority is responsible for ensuring that the biodiversity gain objective is achieved, whether it be on site, offsite, or through the purchase of credits, and that it is secured by legal agreement as necessary.  It is essential to highlight that planning conditions operate within a strict timeframe. Therefore, any legal agreements required to secure the biodiversity gain must be completed prior to the submission of the discharge of condition application.

Biodiversity Gain Plan Template