Swindon’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.

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

Swindon is part of the Wiltshire and Swindon Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be found here.

Specific BNG Requirements are set out in the BNG Page.

The Environment Act 2021 introduced the duty to deliver minimum 10% BNG through planning decisions; this requirement was enacted on 12 February 2024. To be clear, this is a mandatory requirement – applicable developments have to demonstrate 10% net gain otherwise we will be unable to approve them. It is not something we can assess as part of the planning balance.

The National Planning Policy Framework notes that improving biodiversity is one of the objectives to deliver sustainable development; Paragraph 180 refers directly to providing net gains for biodiversity.

The adopted Swindon Local Plan contains Policy EN4 (Biodiversity and Geodiversity), which requires development to avoid negative impacts and for applicable developments also to provide biodiversity net gain.

See also the Local Plan

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