Chapter 4: Grant and Implementation of Planning Permission Chapter 6: Other Provision Section 135: Biodiversity net gain: pre-development biodiversity value and habitat enhancement Background
Section 135 inserts new paragraphs 6A and 6B into Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. It also inserts new subparagraphs (1A) to (1D) into paragraph 10 and makes some other minor amendments. The purpose of this is to reduce incentives to lower the biodiversity value of land before establishing baselines on both development sites and biodiversity gain sites. Biodiversity gain sites are places outside of a development site, where habitat is being improved so that it may contribute to a development's achievement of BNG.
	Biodiversity net gain (‘BNG’) requires the measurement of increases in biodiversity value against a pre-determined baseline value. Deliberately lowering the baseline value would artificially make it easier to achieve BNG and would not lead to actual improvements to biodiversity.