My pronouns are she/her
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) policy will come into force in November 2023, mandating that almost all planning applications in England deliver a minimum 10% net gain of biodiversity post- development. However, debate remains over whether BNG could, and should, contribute to nature recovery on a national scale, and no study to date has investigated the policy’s potential to contribute to the ‘bigger’ and ‘more joined up’ habitats recommended for nature recovery by the Lawton Review. My research aims to fill this gap, first alleviating the geographical and urban-rural bias in BNG datasets from existing literature and then providing a picture of the size and connectivity of delivered habitats, informing initial evidence as to whether policy may need to be altered to increase BNG’s potential to contribute to bigger, better, more joined up habitats for wildlife. This has implications both for existing policy in England and future policies developed elsewhere.
