Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 30
30
Accepted
Set out unequivocal support for BNG policy, driving it through Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
Recommendation
The Government must set out unequivocally its support for BNG policy and ensure that it continues to deliver genuine habitat net gains and supports a thriving market in natural capital credits. The Government should make use of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects as a method to drive support for BNG. (Recommendation, Paragraph 155)
Government Response Summary
The government unequivocally states its continued support for BNG policy. They confirm that BNG will be introduced for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) from May 2026 and that a consultation is underway to determine its application, directly addressing the recommendation to use NSIPs to drive BNG support. They also highlight consultations to improve BNG for minor and brownfield developments.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Response to recommendation 16 & 20: The government continues to support BNG policy. We have recently launched two BNG consultations. The first is on applying BNG to NSIPs. The development of high-quality nature-positive infrastructure will support the Government’s mission of achieving sustainable economic growth to improve the prosperity of our country. BNG will be introduced for NSIPs from May 2026, and this consultation is seeking views on how BNG should be applied to NSIPs. The second consultation is on improving BNG for minor and brownfield development. This consultation is focused mainly on SME developers. It includes options around extending exemptions, simplifying the small sites metric and increasing ease of access to the off-site market to make it easier, quicker and cheaper for SME developers to deliver their BNG requirements. It also addresses specific challenges for brownfield developments. The government is committed to delivering sustained economic growth, as set out in our Plan for Change, and to building 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament. At the same time, we are committed to halting and reversing the decline of nature. BNG provides a clear framework to ensure development leaves biodiversity in a measurably better state, delivering health and wellbeing benefits to local communities, providing wider benefits for climate change adaptation and mitigation and contributing to our legally binding Environment Act 2021 targets for biodiversity.