Planning applications and biodiversity net gain (BNG) compliance since 12/02/24
Case reference FOI2024/01529
Received 12 September 2024
Published 4 October 2024
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding planning applications and biodiversity net gain (BNG) compliance.
Specifically, I am requesting the following information, with data broken down by calendar month since 12 February 2024:
1. The total number of planning applications received by your authority that were subject to the mandatory statutory biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements. (For the avoidance of doubt, please include both applications received that claimed BNG applied to their development AND applications that claimed BNG did not apply on their site (i.e. they claimed an exemption)).
2. The total number of planning applications that:
a. Claimed to be exempt from BNG
b. Of this number, please provide the number that:
i. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the householder exemption
ii. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the de minimis exemption (developments impacting less than 25 square metres of habitat or 5 metres of linear habitat)
iii. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the self-build and custom-build exemptions
iv. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under different criteria
3. For the answer to 2b(ii), 2b(iii) and 2b(iv) please set out
a. How many of these claims of exemption were accepted by the validation team
b. Of this number, how many applications provided a complete statutory biodiversity metric sheet or Small Site Metric Sheet to demonstrate that they were genuinely entitled to an exemption
Response
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding planning applications and biodiversity net gain (BNG) compliance.
Specifically, I am requesting the following information, with data broken down by calendar month since 12 February 2024:
1. The total number of planning applications received by your authority that were subject to the mandatory statutory biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements. (For the avoidance of doubt, please include both applications received that claimed BNG applied to their development AND applications that claimed BNG did not apply on their site (i.e. they claimed an exemption)).
2. The total number of planning applications that:
a. Claimed to be exempt from BNG
b. Of this number, please provide the number that:
i. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the householder exemption
ii. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the de minimis exemption (developments impacting less than 25 square metres of habitat or 5 metres of linear habitat)
iii. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the self-build and custom-build exemptions
iv. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under different criteria
3. For the answer to 2b(ii), 2b(iii) and 2b(iv) please set out
a. How many of these claims of exemption were accepted by the validation team
b. Of this number, how many applications provided a complete statutory biodiversity metric sheet or Small Site Metric Sheet to demonstrate that they were genuinely entitled to an exemption
Answer: The information for this request is not held. The Service Area have advised the current software system used does not enable any of the information above to be captured at present, however the software system is being developed to enable this information to be captured in the future.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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