06/06/2026
🐾 The expansion of the Biodiversity Net Gain policy exemptions under the Labour Government is leading to England's most socio-economically deprived communities facing further nature poverty.
Biodiversity Net Gain (abbreviated to BNG) are policies that make sure developers have to leave biodiversity in a better state than it was previously. However, recent backtracking, including exemption for small sites, the abuse of the de minimis threshold (where developers can just state that their development has little to no impact on nature), and the proposed brownfield residential site exemption, is specifically worsening green space and biodiversity access for those already in the most deprived neighbourhoods. This is because the most underprivileged, asset-poor and urban communities have the heaviest concentrations of the majority of potential housing capacity.
With 7.4 million people in England already living in areas devoid of immediate biodiversity, do we really want to make this worse?
Wildlife and Countryside Link, who put together the Green Gap Report, which outlines these findings, urges the government to mandate a statutory Equality Impact Assessment for BNG Frameworks to embed access to nature in planning policy.
To read more, head here: https://www.wcl.org.uk/governments-planning-loopholes-risk-stripping-nature-from-the-most-deprived-communities-in-england.asp