Since the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became mandatory in February 2024, we are now seeing the first wave of planning applications incorporating reports and assessments addressing the required 10% BNG improvement.

Now we’re going to be frank. We’re not BNG report experts here at Searchland. But we do love BNG data. Habitats, units, multipliers, metrics and desktop studies - if you’re looking for help getting the meaty data for a report - we’ve got you covered.

That being said, because we've got such great access to planning data - we performed some tech wizardry to get a peak into how developers are tackling BNG reports since the policy came into play.

Essentially we pulled a query that surface any planning application submitted that included a BNG report document. We also downloaded all the docs and made them available for you to view in our free BNG download. Which you can grab here. By studying these documents, you might just find the insights you need to ace your next planning proposal.

The cool part - we’ll update it regularly so you always access to the latest BNG-related planning application data.

What is included in a BNG report?

Taking a look at the reports submitted with planning applications since BNG policy became mandatory there are a few common factors we’re seeing in completed BNG reports:

• Introduction
  • Site location and description
  • Development proposal
• Methodology
  • Habitat assessment including both desktop studies and field studies
  • Overview of metrics and calculations
• Habitat overview
  • Overview of habitats including distinctiveness and condition
  • Metric calculation conclusion
• Proposals for created habitats & Net Gain assessment
  • Where relevant including details on on-site proposals, off-site proposals or BNG unit off-set.
• Habitat Management
  • Proposals and solutions for the mandatory management period

And most feature extensive visual aids such as site photographs, site plans featuring existing habitats vs site plans with on-site improvements (if solutions have been proposed).

How Searchland can help with BNG reports

Like we said earlier we are not BNG report experts, but what we can help with is site assessment and site due diligence using our suite of BNG tools. 

Scoping out the potential biodiversity requirements of a site before you get to the planning stage can help you save time and investment pursuing sites that are difficult to develop or feature specific ecological factors (like irreplaceable habitats) that will cause you headaches down the line. 

Our tools can also really help your team when performing desk studies - which is your initial research to gather background data on the area to establish any records of protected or notable species - before any physical investigations take place.

And there’s more. Our software can also help you calculate BNG units, spatial multipliers and even help you source suitable BNG units to help you meet your offsite biodiversity requirements.

Now we understand these tools will not replace the need for ecologists and BNG consultants, but they can help to assess site suitability efficiently during your sourcing process.

BNG report example Land at Blackmore Farm, Melksham (Gleeson strategic Land)

Here we’ve grabbed an example of a BNG report from an application submitted for Strategic Land, for a development 650 dwellings; land for primary school; land for mixed-use hub.

We located the parcel and used our desktop study tool to instantly assess the land, calculating the different habitat types, unit calculations and equivalent units available to purchase. 

Whats next?

We are still in the really early days of BNG, and while its still not clear exactly what makes a winning BNG report, we’re beginning to see applications come through the planning system. We’ll keep an eye on the data, and keep you up-to-date with out latest findings. 

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