Vale of White Horse’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.

Vale of White Horse’s pre-application advice service can be foundhere.

Vale of White Horse is part of the Oxfordshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be found here.

Specific BNG Requirements are set out in the BNG page.

From 2024, it is a legal requirement under the Environment Act 2021 that all developments (unless exempt) must demonstrate a net gain of at least 10%. The Council therefore expects non-exempt planning submissions to deliver a BNG, even if there are no other likely impacts on biodiversity. The Council's ecology team will assess planning applications to ensure that this requirement is met. The Council expects planning submissions to provide the necessary information at the appropriate moments in the planning process.

The Environment Act 2021 requires BNG to be demonstrated numerically using a standardised calculator, the “Statutory Biodiversity Metric ''. Different information is needed at different stages of the planning process, with most detail to be provided in a “Biodiversity Gain Plan” after planning approval.

A new joint Local Plan is currently being developed.

N/A