Minor, medium and brownfield development
In May 2025, the government launched an 8-week consultation on BNG for minor, medium and brownfield developments and has published their response –Government response and summary of responses.
They announce a number of changes that include:
- the previously announced 0.2 hectare exemption (intended to come into force before 31 July 2026 subject to Parliamentary scheduling)
- additional new exemptions for specific types of development
- changes to the biodiversity gain hierarchy
- updates to the statutory biodiversity metric
You can read the LI’s response to the consultation here .
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs)
They also ran a separate consultation focused on BNG for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) and have published the outcome – biodiversity-net-gain-for-nationally-significant-infrastructure-projects
You can read the LI’s response to the original consultation here.
- Of note is that BNG will become mandatory for NSIPs from 2 November 2026.
Residential brownfield development – new consultation
At the same time, they announced a new consultation considering a targeted exemption for residential brownfield development – biodiversity-net-gain-considering-a-targeted-exemp
Consultation closes 10 June 2026
- The LI will be responding with members of the Knowledge & Practice Committee and Policy & Public Affairs Committee working together.
- We encourage LI members and the wider landscape profession to send their responses too.
The LI plans to revitalise its work on biodiversity by creating a ‘Biodiversity in Practice’ Task and Finish Group and applications to join will open soon.
You can also log your interest through MyLI, or by contacting Technical & Research Manager, Tracy Whitfield, at technical@landscapeinstitute.org.
Image credit: Southmere Courtyard by LUC
