What's the problem?

By law, most new developments in England must leave nature in a better state than before, by improving or creating new habitats. This process is called Biodiversity Net Gain, known as BNG.  

Biodiversity Net Gain is about making sure developers avoid harm to important wildlife habitats, make up for unavoidable losses and go further and give back to nature. Done well, it protects wildlife and supports nature recovery. 

But that’s being put at risk by new proposals from UK Government which would mean the vast majority of new developments will be exempt from this process. That’s bad for wildlife, and also bad for people.  

Help us to campaign against this

Rupert Masefield, Planning & Advocacy Manager at Suffolk Wildlife said: 

"There are dozens of examples of small housing developments (fewer than 10 homes) where I live in Suffolk that have seen wildlife habitats including woodland, trees, hedgerows and scrub have been completely removed to clear a site prior to development - without any measures required to offset the loss of these habitats and the biodiversity they support.

"Biodiversity Net Gain has started to make a real difference for nature by ensuring small housing developments like these take steps to preserve existing wildlife habitats and increase nature.

"This is such an important step towards addressing biodiversity loss - and a huge benefit for the local environment. It is unfathomable that The Government is even entertaining the possibility of a return to allowing the destruction of nature in local places. We need to be supporting smaller developers to build houses that are better for nature, not taking away the tools to help them do this."

You can make a difference.

If these plans to weaken Biodiversity Net Gain go ahead, both nature and people will suffer. Building developments can have a huge impact on wildlife and if the requirement for Biodiversity Net Gain is lost nature will be squeezed into smaller and smaller pockets. 

Wildflower meadows, wetlands and woodlands that would have been created will not exist. There will be less birdsong, fewer trees, less space for pollinators like bees... the list goes on. 

Meanwhile, people will also lose out on the benefits that these spaces would have created.  

A public consultation has been launched to gather people’s views about these changes. We’ve made it as simple as possible for you to respond to the consultation and speak up for nature.  

This isn't a question of nature or development. We can have both. But it has to be done right.  

Get involved and stand up for nature