From: Department for
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published 28 May 2025
Last updated 15 April 2026 — See all updates
Applies to England
This consultation has concluded
Read the full outcome
Government response and summary
of responses
HTML
Biodiversity net gain (BNG)
area-based exemption evidence annex
PDF, 222
KB, 11 pages
Detail of outcome
We received 25,024 responses to this consultation. 23,748 of
these were campaign responses received by email from Wildlife
Trust (WT) and Royal Society
for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
campaigns.
Defra will introduce secondary legislation in 2026 to start
implementing the changes set out in the government response.
The current biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirement remains in place
and developers should continue to follow existing guidance and
legislation when delivering BNG.
Original consultation
Summary
We are seeking views on improving the implementation of
biodiversity net gain (BNG) for minor, medium and brownfield
development.
This consultation was held on another
website.
This consultation ran from
2 May 2025 to 11:59pm on 24 July 2025
Consultation description
We want to know what you think about the implementation of
biodiversity net gain (BNG) for minor, medium and
brownfield development.
BNG is a way of
creating and improving natural habitats. BNG makes sure development
has a measurably positive impact (‘net gain') on biodiversity,
compared to what was there before development.
This consultation includes options around extending exemptions,
simplifying the small sites metric and increasing ease of access
to the off-site market. It also addresses specific challenges for
brownfield developments.
The government is committed to encouraging economic growth
through new development, while also supporting nature recovery.
We think amending BNG to more efficiently embed
nature-positive approaches within the planning system will help
achieve this mission.
We are also consulting separately on BNG for nationally
significant infrastructure projects.
