Weaker building regulations could destroy 215,000 hectares of nature in England, analysis shows
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Weaker building regulations could destroy 215,000 hectares of nature in England, analysis shows
Ministers are consulting on plans to tear up the rules for small developers. 97% of planning approvals – 76,800 out of 79,300 every year – would be exempt from the requirement to replace the nature that is destroyed if the rules are changed. This would mean an area of more than 215,000 hectares, the size of the Yorkshire Dales, could be built on over the next decade with no requirement for developers to compensate for any of the nature they destroy. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and the government is signed up to a pledge to boost nature recovery by committing to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. Thousands of individuals and organisations have responded to the government consultation on the changes, which ends on 24 July. The government is fully committed to biodiversity net gain and this consultation explores easier, quicker and cheaper routes to deliver gains for developers and nature, a spokesperson said.
Labour wants to remove the requirement for small housebuilders in England – defined as those whose sites are under a hectare (2.5 acres) – to replace the nature they destroy under rules known as biodiversity net gain.
Ministers are consulting on plans to tear up the rules for small developers to boost growth. But analysis of the impacts of Labour’s proposal by environmental economists from the consultancy Eftec, suggests 97% of planning approvals – 76,800 out of 79,300 every year – would be exempt from the requirement to replace the nature that is destroyed if the rules are changed.
This would mean an area of more than 215,000 hectares, the size of the Yorkshire Dales, could be built on over the next decade with no requirement for developers to compensate for any of the nature they destroy.
The biodiversity net gain rules were brought in to help tackle devastating nature loss. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and the government is signed up to a pledge to boost nature recovery by committing to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.
Biodiversity net gain, which requires developers to ensure a 10% increase in biodiversity, came into effect for major developments in February 2024 and for small sites in April 2024. But government plans to scrap the rules for small developers – who dominate planning in England – would render the scheme utterly ineffective, the report says.
“Biodiversity net gain is a hugely important principle: industries that harm nature should contribute to its recovery,” said Richard Benwell, of Wildlife and Countryside Link, which commissioned the research with the Lifescape Project. “The proposal to drastically widen the number of exempt small sites from the system would be a return to the bad old days of damaging development and torpedo confidence in private investment in nature recovery.”
Biodiversity net gain was supposed to apply to most planning applications but the research found 69,500 out of 80,400 (86%) approved planning applications between March 2024 and February 2025 claimed exemptions, in what the researchers believe could be widespread abuses by developers.
Under current rules biodiversity net gain is not required for sites less than 25 sq metres, or those that do not affect protected habitats. But developers are able to “self declare” to claim these exemptions.
Economists found a rise in claims for these “de minimis” exemptions, after the rules came into force last year. “The scale of misuse across different sizes of planning applications suggests the de minimis exemption may be being intentionally misinterpreted,” the report said.
Joan Edwards, the director of policy and public affairs at the Wildlife Trusts, said the government wanted investment from the private sector to help it meet its binding nature recovery targets by 2030. But changing the system after just 13 months could destroy the biodiversity market.
“Scrapping biodiversity net gain for small sites would be a spectacular own goal,” she said. “Nothing undermines private-sector confidence more than a government that chops and changes the rules on a whim.”
The economists suggest Labour should instead tweak its changes to improve the efficiency of the system. It suggests excluding only sites of up to 0.1 hectares that align with the government’s proposed new definition of “very small sites”. This would also remove the current loophole that allows some very large sites to sidestep BNG entirely by claiming de minimis exemption.
Thousands of individuals and organisations have responded to the government consultation on the changes, which ends on 24 July.
Robert Oates, the chief executive and founder of ecological consultancy Arbtech, said: “The government’s proposal to weaken biodiversity net gain for small sites threatens both its goals: supporting nature recovery and accelerating housebuilding.
“Small site biodiversity net gain has only been in place for 13 months, yet developers and businesses have spent years preparing for it. U-turns like this create damaging instability. Developers need certainty, not another policy rewrite.”
A government spokesperson said: “This government is fully committed to biodiversity net gain and this consultation explores easier, quicker and cheaper routes to deliver gains for both developers and nature. We are also consulting on how biodiversity net gain should be applied to nationally significant infrastructure projects to provide a clear framework that ensures major new developments deliver for nature and contribute to our legally binding targets.”