Principles for Biodiversity Net Gain

Kent Wildlife Trust wants to use BNG to enable genuine, scaled up habitat restoration and improvements in biodiversity and bio-abundance. We will therefore seek to incorporate key BNG funded sites into its estate, in line with our targets to double our estate, whilst working with 3rd party landowners to extend our research, monitoring and evidence work across the wider BNG landscape in Kent to demonstrate impact as well as to finesse the design of future schemes, and to try to get others to adopt its high integrity approach.

• Right habitat in the right place will be delivered
• Needs of species on site and locally considered
• Contributes to wider conservation priorities
• Contributes to the ecological functioning of the area, improving connectivity

Mandatory BNG policy does not override any other policy or legal obligation and delivers against policy obligations (e.g., green space, GI, tree cover) before delivering net gain.

Kent Wildlife Trust recognises that many SSSIs and other designations do not deliver maximised biodiversity outcomes, let alone facilitate improved co-benefits from a given natural ecosystem. It will therefore seek relevant permissions to apply BNG payments to any area where genuine uplift is achievable with more resources, and it will work to influence policy seeking a pragmatic/ flexible approach that enables nature restoration.

Working, through our broader initiatives and through partners therein, we will work to improve the management and outcomes flexibility in BNG schemes – as well as the way the metric evolves – to make it more transparent and more compatible with “wilding” approaches and re-establishment of natural processes that we know are going to be critical to maintaining maximised biodiversity in a changing climate.

For example it should be possible for a reviewer to see how the conclusions were reached and the design developed in delivering BNG:

1. Do you have access to survey and condition data?
2. How have consultation activities been captured and communicated?
3. Is it clear how designs have evolved in light of ecological data, especially in adhering to the mitigation hierarchy?
4. What considerations have been made of the strategic context of a scheme?

BNG assessment reports and Habitat Management and Monitoring Plans should clearly document these steps. This represents the end point that we would like to see implemented in Kent, but we recognise that this is going to be a step-wise process.

We will ensure that the mitigation hierarchy has been properly applied to any development that Kent Wildlife Trust receives funding from. This is to particularly avoid schemes where avoidance has not been applied, ensuring that irreplaceable habitats are not lost, and that sufficient effort has been applied to avoid impact on high distinctiveness habitats.

Special attention will also be paid to issues including habitat creation used as mitigation for impacts on protected species or site only equating to ‘no net loss’ and additional activities deliver net gain.

This also goes to trying to push all developers to do better.

Net gain design will be captured in the Monitoring and Management Plan to include:

• Any key stakeholders engagement d in the design and operation;
• Adaptive and responsiveness to monitoring;
• Mechanisms to enhance resilience, especially to climate change;
• A longer term funding plan for the site beyond the 30 year contract period;
• Mitigation for wider impacts e.g. recreational impacts or adjacent land use (e.g. pesticide drift, sources of pollution, etc.).

In addition, risks associated with the scheme will be specifically addressed in a separated risk assessment that specifies how:

• Habitat designs are appropriate for the ecological conditions;
• Appropriate capacity for management, is being harnessed;
• Proper cost assessments and budgets, including contingency, are in place;
• Kent Wildlife Trust will always seek to achieve market price or better for sale of Biodiversity Units (and will look at options including index linking).

Kent Wildlife Trust Group will, wherever feasible, determine and quantify co-benefits derived from BNG schemes that it is directly or indirectly involved as well as working within the guidelines at the time the scheme is conceived to enable the landowner in question – including itself – to benefit from a broader suite of payment options that increase the likelihood of biodiversity gains being maintained beyond the 30 year BNG contract period.