From the 12th February 2024 all major developments (unless exempt) are required to deliver net gains for biodiversity. GiGL has been working on various projects over the last few years in preparation for biodiversity net gain. If you’d like to learn more about BNG, we have recently updated our BNG resources page and added all the new guidance that was recently published.
We have been working on a series of BNG pilot projects with six partners which are slowly coming to an end. Our experience and the lessons learnt from these pilot projects will contribute to the improvement of our new habitat and land use (HLU) dataset. This new dataset will provide more detailed coverage of the habitats in an area and will cover the whole of London. If you’d like to learn more about this work you can read our GiGLer articles on the BNG pilot projects and the habitat dataset.
We formed a BNG advisory group with various stakeholders and members of our board (ecological consultants; local authority ecologist, BNG officer and planner; Greater London Authority; Transport for London; Natural England). Our sessions with members of this group have helped us identify areas that GiGL could be working on to support our professional and community networks with BNG requirements. Through this process we identified 6 high priorities to work on which formed our BNG services project.
Through the BNG services project we are working to improve our habitat and watercourse* data. We are also asking for feedback and support on the other priorities in order to be able to focus our efforts on the ones that are of highest importance to our networks. These include recording onsite BNG delivery, identifying areas and habitats of medium and high strategic significance, a London-specific offsite register and identifying data that can be used as proof that a habitat has been degraded. Some of these are dependent on the support of our partners e.g. enabling the data flow from developers to GiGL so we can collate onsite BNG delivery information). Proceeding with all this work will mean a suite of new datasets and services to provide our stakeholders, including platforms hosting related information. Our goal is that our existing and new services will:
- inform local plans, strategies and other work to benefit both resilience and nature recovery,
- enable informed decisions, keep BNG offsite delivery as local as possible, and enable relevant, well-placed and complementary nature-based solutions to support nature’s recovery.
- empower communities with information to support nature’s recovery in their local area.
Watch this space for further information as the work progresses.
More information on our work can be found in our biodiversity net gain webpage.
*Working with the Environment Agency, in partnership with River Partnerships in London (RiPL), the GLA, ZSL, T21 and LPA representatives.
This sounds promising but as a long time resident of Barking and Dagenham next to Rainham. All I can see us habitat loss residential building work not enough green corridors Maybe a possible token. You cannot even walk across the borough to the creekmouth. What is left of it. The skylarks holding on to a ditch bank. Apologise but this is how it
appears I hope the ex Fords site and surrounding is being monitored. Thankyou