Ecology
Ecological services and expertise to help you understand and manage your impact on plants, animals and ecosystems.
Sustainability
BNG for habitat banking site
Our client purchased a plot of farmland with the aim of reverting it to wildflower meadow / unimproved grassland to eventually sell biodiversity units for off-site biodiversity net gain.
The Environment Act will require all development schemes in England to deliver a mandatory 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG), which must be maintained for a period of at least 30 years. BNG can be delivered off-site, if achieving it within development site proves difficult.
Key details
Project name
BNG for habitat banking site
Client
Confidential
Location
Kent, UK
Services provided
- Ecology
- BNG
- Habitat bank
Challenge
Our ecology team supported our client in creating a habitat banking site last year, one of the first of its kind.
With new BNG legislation coming into force, it’s challenging for some projects to reach their BNG targets on site, and so providing off-site solutions is the only way for some developments to proceed.
As a pioneering project, with much of the formal guidance and templates still to be finalised, our team relied on our ecological expertise to help our client deliver a place with rich, diverse, and increasingly rare habitat.
Solution
Our ecologists carried out baseline surveys last summer to assess the pre-existing habitat and advised our client on the ideal seed mix to create the optimum species diversity to suit the ground.
Following this, we supervised the harrowing of the fields and seed sowing in the autumn. Yellow rattle was an important part of the seed mix in helping restore the grassland back to meadow. By feeding off the vigorous grasses, it eventually allows more delicate, traditional species to push their way through. This was sown by hand to optimise the chance of successful germination.
This year, we returned to the site to carry out breeding bird and botany surveys to see how the project was progressing. Results so far are positive, but this is a slow process and it can take many years for the habitat to be properly restored. The client can start selling biodiversity units but is likely to feed them into the market progressively over a number of years as the ecological enhancements are secured.
