Nearly 40% of councils lack access to in-house ecological expertise amid Biodiversity Net Gain rules

The HBF is calling on the government to ensure local planning authorities are “sufficiently staffed and placed on a sustainable financial footing”.

BNG, which came into force in February 2024 for large developments and April 2024 for small sites, requires all developments to achieve a 10% improvement in biodiversity on their sites to be granted planning permission.

If developers cannot fully meet the requirement on site, they can meet BNG off site, improving their own land elsewhere or buying biodiversity units on the market. Biodiversity credits can be bought from the government as a last resort.

The HBF’s research found that one in three councils has not expanded their ecology teams since BNG was introduced, while around a quarter of staff recruited to support BNG requirements are temporary.

It found that councils are spending an average of £23,000 per year on BNG-related consultancy fees.

“Government should also put in place a strategy to address the recruitment crisis for ecologists in both the private and public sectors,” it said. 

Among the respondents to the survey, 94% said they had experienced delays in processing planning applications because of BNG, while 90% experienced delays specifically due to insufficient BNG expertise or resources within local authorities.

The HBF said a lack of capacity in council planning departments had “long been a major frustration for industry”. 

It said resultant delays to the processing of planning applications “prevent builders from getting onto sites to start work, delaying the delivery of vital new homes”.

Respondents also identified “inconsistent BNG guidance”, additional local policy requirements, and a lack of suitable external ecological expertise as posing a risk to their businesses and their ability to build.

Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the HBF, said the industry had “embraced BNG” and was “committed to both increasing housing supply and protecting and enhancing our natural environment”.

“However, if we are to increase supply alongside these new requirements, it is vital to address emerging barriers to implementation, such as the insufficient resourcing of local authorities, shortage of ecologists and inadequate national guidance,” he added.

Mr Jefferson said the government “must provide clarity, funding and support to planning departments” so that they can deal with applications “effectively and remove this barrier to getting new homes built”.

The HBF’s research comes after research by TerraQuest, whose Planning Portal monitors planning applications in England, found that 75% of developers had claimed an exemption from BNG on their sites since the policy came into effect last year.

There are eight exemptions from BNG. According to the report, the most popular is known as de minimis, which means the development does not impact on a priority habitat and affects less than 25 sq m of on-site habitat.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “For too long nature and development have been unnecessarily pitted against each other, but communities and the environment deserve better than this broken status-quo.

“That is why this government is working closely with the sector to make biodiversity net gain work proportionately and effectively to protect our natural world, and we have already committed over £35m to help local planning authorities prepare for and implement the approach.”