Agenda item

The Planning Committee are asked to consider the attached report and make the followings recommendations;

Recommendation; The Planning Committee is asked to;

i.  note the contents of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Consultation on Biodiversity Net Gain Regulations and Implementation,and

ii. to comment on, and endorse, the proposed Council response set out in Appendix 1.

Ms Stevens presented the report to the Committee. She explained the purpose of the report and provided an overview of what was meant by Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and how it had evolved within a policy context.

Ms Stevens informed the Committee that there are currently no specific requirements to identify how much BNG should be delivered, however, a requirement of the Environment Act is for development to deliver a BNG of 10%, it is anticipated that this will be mandated from 2023.

The purpose of the consultation is to assist DEFRA in understanding the processes for implementing BNG within the planning process.

Ms Stevens explained the proposals for how BNG could be achieved, including on-site measures, off-site measures or through a national credit scheme. However, she stressed that it was considered important on-site BNG should be sought in the first instance.

Ms Stevens explained that Sussex Nature Partnership would be submitting a separate response to the consultation and confirmed that officers from the Environmental Team would be assisting in that response.

Ms Stevens advised the Committee that the consultation closed on 5 April and asked members to forward any additional comments within 7 days of the committee meeting  to allow officers to consider them ahead of the formal response being submitted.

Officers responded to Members’ comments and questions as follows;

On the matter of what would be defined as a small site; Ms Stevens informed the Committee there was a recommendation included within the consultation which stated there should be two metrics applied when calculating the BNG of a small site, one being a development under 10 dwellings and the second being small sites under 0.2ha. She agreed that further clarification could be provided in the answer submitted.

On the matter of reporting and monitoring BNG: Ms Stevens highlighted to the Committee that going forward there was a resource issue which would need addressing to ensure appropriate reporting and monitoring could be achieved.

On the issue of Change of Use applications; Ms Stevens agreed that the response could be further clarified to identify between applications where BNG may be achievable; such as agricultural barns to accommodation and developments where garden areas are proposed.

On the matter of temporary applications; Ms Stevens acknowledged the comments made and agreed that further clarification could be given to the proposed response to distinguish where BNG could be applied on longer term temporary applications.

With regards to current applications; Ms Stevens advised the Committee that applications received could only be assessed against the planning policies in place at that time. BNG is not mandatory and is not included within the adopted Local Plan, however, officers do seek to promote and preserve biodiversity.

On the issue of biodiversity credits; Ms Stevens acknowledged the comments made by the Committee and agreed to amend the response to reflect the strong opposition to them.

Following a vote, the Committee agreed to make the report recommendation;

Resolved;

That the Planning Committee;

1)    Note the contents of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Consultation on Biodiversity Net Gains Regulations and Implementation, and;

2)    Have commented on, and endorse, the proposed Council response set out in Appendix 1.

*Members took a five-minute break