Biodiversity Net Gain
Case reference FOI2022/01783
Published 12 December 2022
Request
1. Who is the BNG lead within the council and what are their direct contact details?
2. What practises/processes do the council currently have, or intend to have, in place for how they are going to manage/monitor the 30-year requirement for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) from November 2023 when 10% BNG becomes mandatory?
3. What information/technology systems do you plan to utilise to manage/monitor the delivery of BNG?
4. Which outside bodies (eg. wildlife trusts, ecologists, community groups, habitat banks) are you working with to assist in delivering Biodiversity Net Gain?
5. Is the council planning to use any of their own land to deliver BNG? If so, please provide details of the location and size.
6. What plans do you have in place, or intend to have for the training of staff on BNG?
Response
1. Who is the BNG lead within the council and what are their direct contact details?
A: The Local Nature Recovery Strategy sits within the Built and Natural Environment Service. We will therefore lead on the development of the content of the policy and its implementation. The policy will be drafted in full by the Forward Plans team who are responsible for policy development. Any queries to myself please.
2. What practises/processes do the council currently have, or intend to have, in place for how they are going to manage/monitor the 30-year requirement for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) from November 2023 when 10% BNG becomes mandatory?
A: The council is awaiting detailed guidance from Defra to come forward as to how this policy will be implemented, in the interim we have begun to work with local nature bodies and stakeholders in order to set up a working group who can develop this. To date the work undertaken by the council is a full review of its natural environment evidence base, including its biological datasets in order to provide a basis for the strategy moving forward.
3. What information/technology systems do you plan to utilise to manage/monitor the delivery of BNG?
A: We have not finalised these, but will await guidance from Natural England and Defra, as I understand they are developing tools to support with this work.
4. Which outside bodies (eg. wildlife trusts, ecologists, community groups, habitat banks) are you working with to assist in delivering Biodiversity Net Gain?
A: The council recognises that whilst it acts as the lead on the strategy, it will require partnership with a number of stakeholders and nature organisations within the county. It will be guided by Defra and Natural England on this matter but has already engaged with the Local Nature Partnership and the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust amongst others.
5. Is the council planning to use any of their own land to deliver BNG? If so, please provide details of the location and size.
A: The Local Nature Recovery strategy and Nature Recovery Network mapping has yet to be developed therefore it has yet to be determined if council owned land will form part of the land used to deliver BNG.
6. What plans do you have in place, or intend to have for the training of staff on BNG?
A: Council officers are already undertaking accredited training on BNG as this is made available. The team will be seeking to continue its breadth of training where provided by our national advisory body.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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