Understanding biodiversity net gain
Publication Year
2026
Document Status
Current
Abstract
Explains what biodiversity net gain (BNG) is and how it affects land managers, developers and local planning authorities.
Document History
Last updated: 14 July 2026 - Updated to add that from 6 August 2026, biodiversity net gain (BNG) does not apply to planning applications for developments of 0.2 hectares or below. Also added that from 6 August 2026, small (‘minor’) developments that are not already exempt can consider options 1 and 2 for achieving BNG at the same time, and choose to go straight to offsite delivery. Sourced from: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-biodiversity-net-gain and converted to pdf. Whilst we endeavour to capture all updates it is subject to receiving alerts from the publisher and there may be formatting or punctuation changes applied to the html version that do not affect the text. Document type: guidance. First published: 21 February 2023.
Publisher Information
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a UK Government department. They are committed to tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and work to secure a healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment. This work has formerly been carried out by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of the Environment.
