What planners need to know about Biodiversity Net Gain
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has published an article written jointly by Verna’s Director of Ecology, Dr Mikael Forup, and Birmingham City Council planner Laura Shorney, providing advice for planners on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG).
BNG becomes mandatory in a few weeks’ time, representing a material change to the planning system. In many ways, this is an exciting development – BNG is “the most ambitious biodiversity policy in the world”, according to a recent Harvard University paper. But for many planning professionals this change feels daunting.
Investment in software solutions will be essential to enable planners to meet their statutory duties and to drive better environmental outcomes at a local level.
Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of RTPI, speaking in the article
The article outlines the key things planners need to know about how BNG will likely impact their day-to-day practices. It is based on two years of research – including discussions with over 140 Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) – into how LPAs are thinking about implementing BNG, and an analysis of some of the best practices we have observed.
You can read the article on RTPI’s The Planner website here (opens in new tab).
On 6 February, RTPI and Verna are running a webinar going into these issues in more detail. You can sign up for the webinar here (opens in new tab).
To find out more about how Verna is supporting Local Planning Authorities achieve ecology and nature goals, you can learn about our Mycelia software or see other resources we’ve published for the sector.