25 Nov Sharing Good Practice: Biodiversity Gain & Planning – Presenting at the RTPI North East Conference
Kirsty Kirkham spent an interesting and lively day engaging with planning professionals in the North East at the RTPI Technicalities of Planning conference discussing the issues and opportunities brought by biodiversity gain in Local Plan policy. Kirsty talked about the layering effect of Local Plan policies on top of the forthcoming legal requirements (due to come into effect in the Environment Act in 2023) and the challenges and practicalities with applying them to developments now.
Kirsty’s presentation offered the opportunity to examine and discuss some of the issues which are arising during the transition stage, these included:
- Opportunities for Local Plan policy to reward developers for selecting the right habitats in the right places that help to meet strategic biodiversity targets.
- A need for the common sense of planning professionals to support the Local Nature Recovery Strategy preparation to allow for spatial allocation of land for the delivery of biodiversity gain, for example at the land allocations stage.
- Concerns about land availability and particularly the ability for brownfield sites to be redeveloped where the Habitat of Principal Importance (HPI) known as Open Mosaic Habitats of Previously Developed Land is present.
- The risks of development stalling where offsite land to deliver biodiversity gain cannot be reasonably found.
- The current transition period we are in is complex and collaboration between developers, their teams and local planning authorities will help to deliver more positive outcomes for biodiversity.
Kirsty’s experience of working for local authorities, the third sector and ecological consultancy means that she has a thorough understanding of commercial and BNG delivery requirements. Using her understanding of the planning process, she has a successful track record of finding BNG solutions including innovative ways of using the Metric for sectors that do not naturally fit with the Metric approach to deliver the desired biodiversity outcome. Kirsty works strategically with numerous clients, assessing and testing the BNG implications on their land acquisition purchase policy, development products and project lifecycle. She has experience in minerals, residential and commercial developments and utilities.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss the implications of biodiversity gain on a specific project.