New Local Plan - Issues & Options (Regulation 18)
15. Biodiversity and Geodiversity
15.1 The natural environment continues to be impacted by climate change, industry and agriculture, leisure and the need for development. As the current Local Plan acknowledges, Harborough District is relatively poor in biodiversity terms due to the predominance of agriculture. The Environment Act 2021 introduces a mandatory approach to biodiversity net gain (BNG), offering the opportunity to secure improvements to Harborough's biodiversity.
15.2 In essence, mandatory BNG means that development will be required to leave biodiversity in a measurably better state than it was beforehand. It means that most planning permissions granted will have to deliver at least 10% biodiversity net gain from January 2024 (April 2024 for small sites). BNG can be delivered both on-site and off-site, on local authority owned or privately owned land and via green-blue infrastructure features. BNG will have to be secured, managed and maintained for at least 30 years.
15.3 While current Local Plan policy specifies that development should contribute towards improving protecting biodiversity, the approach to securing mandatory BNG of at least 10% will be embedded in new Local Plan policy to ensure it is delivered locally and appropriately. Local planning authorities can include higher BNG than the statutory minimum (10%) but this would need a local viability assessment to support it.
15.4 To help support the recovery of nature and the delivery of BNG, the Environment Act 2021 also introduced a new system of spatial strategies for nature called Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS). Across England, there are 48 responsible authorities which will lead on preparing a LNRS for their area. Leicestershire County Council is the responsible authority for preparing the LNRS for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. As well as working closely with Natural England and with the local planning authorities, including Harborough District Council, the County Council will involve a wide range of groups to ensure the LNRS reflects local priorities and benefits from local knowledge.
15.5 The LNRS will set out priorities for nature's recovery, map the most valuable existing areas for nature and map specific proposals for creating or improving habitat for nature and wider environmental goals. The LNRS is expected to be finalised in spring/summer 2025 and will be a valuable source of evidence in understanding locations for conserving and enhancing biodiversity.
15.6 Separate Government guidance will be published on how local authorities will be expected to comply with their duty to take account of the LNRS when preparing local plans. In the meantime, the emerging LNRS will be an important source of evidence in setting out local habitat priorities and in the approach to BNG delivery in the new Local Plan.
Biodiversity and Geodiversity