Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will provide specific (a) guidance and (b) resources for local planning authorities to monitor and enforce the Biodiversity Net Gain system that is due to come into force from January 2024.

Government will publish a package of guidance on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) shortly. This guidance will include advice for landowners, developers, and Local Planning Authorities around their role and responsibilities in delivering mandatory BNG. This guidance will include information on monitoring and enforcing BNG.

Significant biodiversity gains on the development site must be legally secured by planning condition, planning obligation or conservation covenant. Biodiversity net gain sites away from the development site must be legally secured by planning obligation or conservation covenant. Authorities can charge a monitoring fee through section 106 planning obligations, to cover the cost of monitoring and reporting on delivery of that section 106 obligation. Monitoring fees can be used to monitor and report on any type of planning obligation, for the lifetime of that obligation. For gains that are secured with conservation covenants, we expect costs for monitoring and enforcement activities to be reflected in the price of biodiversity units.

The planning enforcement regime will be the principal way of enforcing delivery of BNG.