Important Note: Guildford has stated that "Development proposals, including those exempt from minimum biodiversity net gain standards, are required to seek maximum biodiversity gain" - see Policy P7 of the Local Plan (adopted 22 March 2023).
Important Note: Please note that this LPA has stated that it wants a BNG uplift of higher than 10%. See specific requirements.
General Advice
Guildford'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.
Pre-Application Advice Service
Guildford's pre-application advice service can be found here
Local Nature Recovery Strategy
Guildford is part of the Surrey County Council Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Information can be found here.
Specific Requirements
Specific BNG requirements are set out in Policy P7 of the Local Plan (adopted 22 March 2023).
General Principles: Development proposals, including those exempt from minimum biodiversity net gain standards, are required to seek maximum biodiversity gain on site balanced with delivering other planning priorities and to follow the mitigation hierarchy.
General Principles: Qualifying development proposals submitted after the national scheme comes into effect are required to achieve a biodiversity net gain of at least 20 per cent, or the advised national minimum amount, whichever is greater, measured using the national biodiversity net gain calculation methodology.
Paragraph 4.75: The NPPF has always incorporated the principle that new developments should achieve biodiversity net gain and since 2019 required plans to identify and pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gains for biodiversity. The Environment Act 2021 proposes a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain, but on commencement of the national scheme a minimum 20% biodiversity net gain will be required within the Borough using the national biodiversity net gain calculation methodology. This higher level is justified because Surrey has suffered a severe biodiversity decline which is significantly worse than the country as a whole, opportunities to deliver this off-site if necessary are likely to be available locally and the viability of development is unlikely to be unduly impacted in most cases.
Please note that the resources on this page are purely advisory. Documents set out may be out of date. You should engage with the LPA as soon as possible to ensure local requirements are incorporated into your BNG proposals.
Last updated: February 2024