We have events coming up in December and have run a number of events for local authorities as part of our LPA Biodiversity Net Gain Capacity and Skills project. When we run our events live, they are open to local authority officers and members only.
Biodiversity Net Gain Policy Update, 14 December 2023
Local authority officers and members can register for our online biodiversity net gain (BNG) policy update event following the November publication of the regulations and guidance for mandatory BNG by Government. Natural England will be joining the call and we hope they will be joined by Defra and DLUHC officials.
An introduction to the Statutory Biodiversity Metric led by Natural England, 19 December 2023
Local authority officers and members can register for this online event introducing the statutory Biodiversity Metric, which will be published by Defra in November. Steve Panks, Principal Specialist at Natural England, will explain why the statutory metric is a key element of mandatory biodiversity net gain and this session will provide an overview of the metric and how it compares to Natural England's metric 4.0.
Natural England Biodiversity Metric Intermediate Level Training, September 2023
We are hosted a training session from Natural England on Biodiversity Metric 4.0 primarily aimed at reviewers i.e. people who will be reviewing a Metric that has been completed by an ecologist. The training included an overview of how to review a Metric, the multipliers and the outputs. The recording and slides of the event are available.
Defra's Conservation Covenants & applying to be a Responsible Body, Aug 2023
We hosted an online session with Defra to introduce Conservation Covenants and the role of Responsible Bodies in implementing them on 2nd August 2023. The session explained why organisations might want to become a responsible body, how they can apply to be designated one and the criteria that will be used to assess them to be designated.
Natural England Introduction to the Biodiversity Net Gain, Metric 4.0 and Metric Checklist
We hosted an introduction to the BNG Metric and Checklist for LPA planning officers for Natural England on 6 July 2023. The session was principally focused on the BNG Metric and using the checklist in the process of validation of applications. The recording and slides of the event are available.
Natural England Biodiversity Net Gain update
We hosted an update for local authorities from Nick White of Natural England on 18 April 2023. The slides and recording of the event are available.
The watercourse metric, training for local planners and ecologists
In March 2023 we hosted specialist training by the Environment Agency, looking in detail at the watercourse element of the wider Biodiversity Metric. A recording and slides from the session are available on our events page.
Biodiversity Net Gain and Nature Recovery
We ran a series of workshops for local authorities with a focus on biodiversity net gain and nature recovery from October through to December 2022.
The recordings and slides from the events are now available on our event page. These included updates for officers and members, plus sessions on policy and strategy and BNG in development management.
Biodiversity Net Gain consultation
In February and March 2022, PAS ran events for local authorities on Defra’s consultation on Biodiversity Net Gain regulations and implementation.
The events were intended to help LPAs understand what the consultation covers and how best to respond. We ran overview events and deep-dive discussion sessions on key topics. Slides and recordings of the events plus a summary of what we heard are available here.
The deep-dive discussion sessions on the consultation focused on the following topics:
- BNG offsite delivery and opportunities for LPAs
- BNG evaluation, monitoring and enforcement
- BNG process for TCPA development
- BNG and additionality
- Biodiversity gain plan
Conservation covenants
PAS hosted two sessions in June 2022 for a local authority audience where Defra provided an overview of conservation covenants for local authorities and Natural England ran through the perspective of a 'responsible body'. Conservation covenants are a new type of voluntary but legally binding agreement enabled through the Environment Act that can secure the long-term conservation of the natural or heritage features of the land covered by the agreement. They can help secure off-site BNG and have a range of other applications for nature and heritage conservation, including nutrient neutrality mitigation. The slides and recording from one of the events are available.
Biodiversity Metric
PAS hosted a Natural England training session for local authority planners on Biodiversity Metric 3 on Monday 18th October 2021. The recording and slides from the event are available.
Summer 2021 workshops
We ran workshops from May to July 2021 to get input from local planners and councillors. We ran three events for officers, one for councillors and one focused on London Boroughs.
You can access the slides from the workshops here for an overview of the situation with biodiversity net gain and the Environment Bill in Summer 2020 and to see what we discussed with attendees.
A summary of the outputs from the workshops is available, including what local authorities are doing now on biodiversity net gain (BNG) and what they need to enable them to be ready for mandatory BNG.