Top 7 pain points for developers addressing BNG planning requirements

For developers, the pain points in adhering to government biodiversity net gain (BNG) policy begin with the selection of building sites. They continue through to submission of the biodiversity net gain (BNG) planning applications to local planning authorities.

In our work with developers, we’ve repeatedly seen 7 pain points around BNG. Here’s a look at what they are and how to address them.

Pain point 1: Determining that the selected land choice is a go

You’ve spotted what looks like a good land parcel to build on – but how will it do with the 2021 Environment Act’s 10% BNG mandate? You need answers:

• What is the site’s habitat classification? Any irreplaceable or highly distinctive habitats?
• How much habitat and biodiversity will be lost with project development?
• What will it take to enhance or create new biodiversity units to meet the 10% BNG mandate?

The demand for ecologists to evaluate parcels is high at a time when the UK faces a 40% shortfall of ecologists. It is becoming difficult for developers to find an available ecologist, and with the high demand for ecologists’ time there may be a waiting period.

AiDash Biodiversity Net Gain Management System™ (BNGAI™) platform is ready to help with your pre-acquisition due diligence. BNGAI provides a preliminary BNG assessment, fast: within about 2 weeks’ time. With smarter scenario planning, BNGAI maps your parcel and project plans to Defra’s Statutory Biodiversity Metric. So, you learn before you put in your bid on the land what sort of habitat classification you have and have an idea of how to proceed.

Pain point 2: Accessing and surveying difficult terrain, at the proper time

Your habitat assessment will not be acceptable if completed outside of time constraints identified in the Statutory Biodiversity Metric. For example, if your property has grasslands, your survey will only be deemed valid if conducted within the optimum season: mid-April through August. This could leave you waiting months to start an assessment. And certain areas of your parcels, such as plots abutting watercourses, may add difficulty to the assessment.

And again, booking an ecologist to perform this initial analysis before you move forward on your project, especially in a peak growing season, can be difficult. Time delays are almost certain.

The BNGAI platform can save time while helping you identify any ecological red flags on your site much earlier in the process.

We conduct a BNG assessment, providing habitat classification using high-resolution imagery. Our results are verified in a field survey by one of our ecologists using our mobile BNGAI Survey™ app to confirm habitat classifications, conditions and to capture photographs.

The BNGAI preliminary assessment can also make your decision whether to proceed easier if you are evaluating land outside of yearly survey season timeframes for habitat condition surveys. BNGAI checks records from the last appropriate growing season to give you an idea of any habitat challenges you are likely to encounter.

Pain point 3: Verifying seller BNG data

If you purchase a parcel from a seller who has already conducted a BNG baseline survey and obtained some planning permissions, you have a good sense that you can move forward. However, you will want to verify accuracy.

Using the BNGAI platform you can quickly complete your own BNG baseline survey. A satellite survey and a field survey conducted by one of our ecologists using our mobile BNGAI Survey app, will allow you to work from an up-to-date BNG baseline.

Pain point 4: Coordinating multidisciplinary reporting for your BNG planning application

To complete a successful BNG planning application, you’ll be pulling together data from various sources and professionals. Both building and landscape architectural diagrams and CAD files, ecologist reports, GIS mapping, desktop survey data and the Statutory Biodiversity Metric tool’s Microsoft Excel files must be evaluated, and all viewpoints considered.

It’s a big job that can have huge time implications.

But BNGAI provides a shared platform that coordinates all these contributors and data.

BNGAI supplies the technology to create the BNG baseline survey and compile historical and desktop survey data. Use BNGAI to import architectural diagrams to convey the scope of the project and its effect on biodiversity and select an ecologist to conduct the field survey with our BNGAI Survey app. That means your chosen ecologist will provide condition assessments and complete evidence collection, target notes, and so forth.

BNGAI gets these multidisciplinary people into a common way of talking. It brings the data together for seamless and easy exchange of comments, allowing you to complete a successful BNG plan — sooner rather than later.

Pain point 5: Dotting i’s and crossing t’s for required BNG planning application docs

Pulling all documentation together to support the BNG planning can serve up challenges when approached manually:

• Preparing the time-consuming full BNG report, which can leave room for error.
• Populating the Statutory Biodiversity Metric, which is implemented in Excel.
• Uploading shapefiles and other map-level detail files per LPA request.

BNGAI can generate these reports. And more importantly, because of the platform’s ability to create BNG scenarios for your project, you can easily rework for a new approach if your current reports do not show the best solution from your perspective.

Scenario planning with BNGAI

Make the best choice for your 10% BNG planning by running possible scenarios to see where you can best enhance or create BNG units. BNGAI allows you to run BNG approaches with ecologists and see on a real-time basis how your project will impact surrounding habitat. This approach ensures that your proposed habitat plans are realistic and achievable.

BNGAI helps you work through questions, such as:

• • • Should I convert my habitat to a higher-distinctiveness habitat (such as replacing grassland with trees)?
    • Should I enhance the condition of the habitat to raise its condition to a higher level (for example, poor to moderate/good)?

And it helps you determine:

• • • Does it make sense to have one specific type of habitat or another?
    • Which choice is going to give me the maximum number of units?

Use BNGAI to create multiple graphs to depict and compare these options. No need to spend hours redoing/re-inputting documentation and calculations for every scenario.

Pain point 6: Keeping up with compliance changes

Aside from the general challenges of preparing BNG planning applications, you will also need to ensure you are working to address updates to compliance instructions as they occur.

For example, when the UK government made compliance mandatory on 12 February of this year, Defra removed draft status for the Statutory Biodiversity Metric. But Defra updated metric guidelines for gardens and urban trees 23 July 2024, and developers will need to ensure new BNG planning applications reflect these.

BNGAI keeps up with the updates and incorporates them into the platform, so applications are compiled according to up-to-date guidelines. BNGAI reduces friction in the planning process by relieving you of manual and paper approaches that are slow and inefficient.

Pain point 7: Making the best move with legacy land

Land parcels you acquired some time ago may not make economic sense to develop at present. They may not suit current project needs. For example, if you currently develop projects on 10 acres or more, what will you do with the 2-acre plot you are holding? Or how will you make use of the 10 acres on your 50-acre plot that are unbuildable?

How will you determine whether to sell these legacy land or sundry land parcels or to use them for your own BNG offsets?

BNGAI can help you evaluate these sites and determine the best use case for them:

• What is the baseline BNG value of these land parcels?
• Would they be better used to create BNG offset units to supplement other projects?
• Could they be used to create even more BNG units to generate income?

BNGAI can help you determine your best practice.

For more information about how the BNGAI platform streamlines and simplifies compliance, click here.