Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Accepted
Undertake impact assessment of Planning and Infrastructure Bill on Nature Restoration Fund and nature markets.
Recommendation
The Government should undertake an impact assessment of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to assess how the Nature Restoration Fund would interact with and impact upon the operation of Biodiversity net gain and of broader Government initiatives to encourage investment into nature markets. The Committee expects this impact assessment to be published prior to the first day of the Bill’s Report stage in the House of Commons, to assist the House in understanding the implications of the Bill’s provisions for the development of natural capital markets. (Recommendation, Paragraph 32)
Government Response Summary
The government states an impact assessment for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill was published on 6 May 2025 and explains how Biodiversity Net Gain and the Nature Restoration Fund are complementary, and how the Bill supports investment in nature markets. It further commits to considering the NRF's relationship and impact on nature markets through ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
An impact assessment of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to accompany the Bill through passage was published on 6 May 2025. BNG is not in scope of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, BNG and the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) are intended to be complementary policies. The NRF will focus on enabling development in areas where it has stalled due to specific environmental obligations relating to impacts on protected sites or species. Where a developer engages with the NRF to address a specific environmental impact on a protected site or species, the biodiversity gain requirement will continue to apply to the development site. We will ensure that developers receive a user-friendly experience and that revenues from BNG credits and the NRF are deployed in a joined-up manner to maximise environmental outcomes. The provisions of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill are intended to support investment through nature markets. NRF delivery will preferentially follow an open procurement model for nature services wherever the market can offer the benefits of competition, innovation, and good value for money. We are working with the British Standards Institution to develop high-integrity standards for nature markets and in March we launched the world’s first nature finance standard to guide green investment, which will help provide further confidence in robustly assured outcomes. We will ensure that the NRF’s relationship with, and impact upon, nature markets is considered through ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the NRF. The government is also expanding the Protected Site Strategy (PSS) programme which will provide spatially targeted action to improve the conservation and management of protected sites and address environmental pressures. Together with the NRF, PSS will help create environmental headroom to enable sustainable development and growth alongside facilitating increased investment in nature restoration.