City of London’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.

City of London’s pre-application advice service can be foundhere.

City of London is part of the Greater London Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be foundhere.

Specific BNG requirements are set out in the Sustainability SPD.

The CoLC commissioned a Biodiversity Net Gain Feasibility Study for the Square Mile. Due to the dense urban nature and high proportion of zero baseline sites within the Square Mile, the mandatory BNG of 10% within the Environment Act 2021 is not considered an appropriate measure for the delivery of meaningful BNG within new developments. To meet the requirements of delivering BNG in the City, developments are expected to achieve at least 3.0 BU/ha on site. Where development falls short of the 3 BU/ha target, offsetting measures should be agreed with planning officers. A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Report (PEAR) needs to be submitted at planning application stage, along with the Defra Biodiversity Metric (DBM) spreadsheet. Prior to commencement, a Biodiversity Net Gain Plan will need to be submitted that will set out the strategy for achieving BNG, including information not captured in the biodiversity metric such as species factors, as well as a Habitat Management Plan that outlines how the net gains will be managed and maintained for a minimum of 30 years.

N/A