Wirral’s BNG level is set at 20%.

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.

Wirral’s pre-application advice service can be found here.

Wirral is part of the Liverpool City Region Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be found here.

Specific BNG Requirements are set out in Policy 3.127 and 3.129 of the Local Plan (adopted 26 April 2022).

Whilst householder developments are likely to be exempt from the mandate in the Environment Act, any scale of development can make a contribution if the owner is willing such as with bird, bat or insect boxes, or bee bricks. Indeed the mandatory requirement is not a cap and the Council welcomes further biodiversity net gains from development and this is also addressed in Policy WD 1 Landscaping. In order to demonstrate our commitment to delivering nature recovery through Biodiversity Net Gain, the Council has committed to deliver measurable net gains of 20% on all Council owned land.

Biodiversity Net Gain must only be applied once the mitigation hierarchy, as set out in the NPPF (paragraphs 180-182), has been fully followed. In the first instance harm to biodiversity should be avoided by locating development to an alternative site with less harmful impacts. If this avoidance is not possible then mitigation measures must be implemented in order to minimise the impacts and prevent or reduce as much as is reasonably possible any potential negative effects arising as a result of the development. Examples might include wildlife crossings, non-developed habitat buffer zones, dark corridors and sensitive lighting schemes or multifunctional landscaping. As a last resort impacts can be offset through compensatory measures such as re-creation of habitat in an off-site location. Compensating for impacts by offsetting such as off site habitat creation, should only be considered as a last resort due to the difficulties associated with establishing a biodiverse habitat in an alternative location. The following Policy WS 5 and WD 3 Biodiversity and Geodiversity deal with the requirements for development in this regard.

Specific Strategic Significance requirements are set out in the BNG Strategy.

In addition, the most common GI features are captured within the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Metric and can contribute towards the outcome of a BNG assessment on proposed development. Within the BNG Metric, development proposals are scored against the strategic significance of any propose interventions for biodiversity. This means that any BNG proposal that contributes to the objectives, targets or priorities within such agreed and published strategies will inform the strategic significance scores and BNG outcomes