Winchester’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.

Winchester’s pre-application advice service can be foundhere.

Winchester is part of the Hampshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be foundhere.

Specific BNG Requirements are set out in the BNG Page.

When a development is proposed, it will soon be required to achieve Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) the biodiversity on the development site must be left in a better state than before the works were undertaken. In this way development will have a positive impact on biodiversity and this will be achieved by developers working with local government, wildlife groups, landowners and other stakeholders.

It follows the government’s pledge to ‘leave the environment in a better state than we found it and pass on to the next generation a natural environment protected and enhanced for the future’, as set out in the 2018 DEFRA 25 Year Environment Plan.

BNG will transform how developments are planned, designed, built and maintained. It has the potential to bring benefits to both people and wildlife such as giving communities beautiful natural spaces and bringing back wildlife.

But it is also vital for reversing the effects of years of habitat destruction which have left our environment less resilient and natural resources depleted.

A new Local plan (2020-2040) is currently being developed.

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