East Cambridgeshire’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.

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

East Cambridgeshire is part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be found here.

Specific BNG Requirements are set out in the BNG Page.

The District Council recognises that implementing BNG successfully will require considerable new ways of working both by developers seeking planning permission and by the Council making decisions on those planning applications and making sure the minimum 10% BNG is achieved.

We want to make the process as smooth as possible for all parties, and are committed to helping all developers through the process. However, it must be made clear from the outset that BNG is a mandatory requirement. That means it is not negotiable and, unless your proposal is exempt under the national rules, you must comply with the requirement to provide a minimum 10% BNG.

The minimum 10% BNG must not only be achieved, but must also be maintained for a minimum 30 years thereafter. The Council has put in place internal monitoring arrangements to make sure all BNG achieved via new development is monitored for the full 30 years. Where it is not being achieved or maintained properly, we will endeavour to work with landowners to help identify what needs to be done to meet their obligations. However, ultimately, we will use our enforcement powers where it is clear a landowner is failing to meet their BNG commitments.

For specific requirements regarding major developments see the BNG and Major Development Page.

For specific requirements regarding minor developments see the BNG and Minor Development Page.

See also the Local Plan.

Specific Strategic Significance requirements are set out in the Strategic Significance Page.

Areas of 'strategic significance' are set locally. It is anticipated that the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) (external link) will establish the areas of 'strategic significance', but our local LNRS will not be in place until sometime in 2025.

However, in the meantime, the Biodiversity Metric User Guide (external link) confirms that local authorities can specify alternative documents for assigning 'strategic significance'.