St Albans’ 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.

St Albans’ pre-application advice service can be foundhere.

St Albans is part of the Hertfordshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be foundhere.

Specific requirements are set out in the BNG page.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is an approach to development, land and marine management that leaves biodiversity in a measurably better state than before the development took place.

All major and minor developments, with some exceptions, are now required to provide a Biodiversity Net Gain of 10%.

All applicants applying for planning permission will now be required to set out whether they believe their development is (or is not) subject to BNG, and if they believe that the proposed development is not subject to BNG they must set out the reasons for this.

The new Local Plan will be adopted in March 2026. See also the Southwest Hertfordshire Joint Strategic Plan.

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