General Advice
Local validation requirements here
City of Westminster’s BNG level is set at 10%.
The NPPF states: "applicants are encouraged to consider biodiversity net gain early in the development process and factor it into site selection and design. Where appropriate, they should discuss the biodiversity net gain requirements for their development upfront with the relevant local planning authority utilising any pre-application advice services offered by them. This could help establish whether development proposals would be subject to biodiversity net gain and, if they are, enable feedback on the proposed strategy for achieving the biodiversity gain objective and consideration of the Biodiversity Gain Hierarchy to inform the design of the proposals"
Please note, If you work for the LPA and wish to add additional information, please inform the Joe's Blooms team here.
Pre-Application Advice Service
City of Westminster’s pre-application advice service can be foundhere.
Local Nature Recovery Strategy
The City of Westminster is part of the Greater London Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be found here.
Specific Requirements
Specific BNG Requirements are set out in Policy 34.11 of the Local Plan (adopted April 2021).
Development should aim to create net gains in biodiversity, leaving the natural environment in a better state than before. There are a growing number of tools and good practice guides available which can help developments achieve measurable biodiversity net gain.
See also the BNG Page.
Strategic Significance
N/A