Boodle Hatfield Property Insights, June 2023 - Flipbook - Page 4
Boodle Hatfield
Property Insights
Biodiversity Net Gain
November 2023 will see the majority of planning
permissions subjected to a condition that
development is not to begin until a biodiversity
gain plan has been submitted and approved by the
local planning authority. Through planning policy,
the government is trying to ensure that developers
leave the natural environment in a much better state
than it was in before development commenced.
In the biodiversity gain plan, developers will need
to show how they intend to increase biodiversity
by at least 10%. They will need to do so by one or
more of the following: (a) improving the habitat
on the development site (b) improving the habitat
on another site owned by the developer (c) buying
units from a land manager (who in turn promises
to improve the habitat on their land) or (d) as
a last resort, buying statutory credits from the
government who will themselves invest in habitat
creation in England.
For developers, this will mean working with a
consultant specialising in biodiversity net gain.
Developers are likely to factor biodiversity into the
design stage, to ensure that on the development
site, there will be a habitat on which biodiversity can
be improved. It is expected that government will set
the price of statutory credits high, so developers
will be incentivised to improve biodiversity onsite.
For landowners, the advent of this condition
presents an opportunity to become a land manager;
selling units to developers and contracting to
improve the habitat on their land. Landowners will
need to tie up their land for this purpose for 30
years. Whilst landowners may look favourably on
this potential new income stream, amongst other
matters, they should consider:
•
Will they be able to deliver the required
biodiversity improvement?
•
What happens if the developer becomes
insolvent?
•
How this will affect the value of the landowner’s
land over the 30 year period?
•
What if the landowner wish to dispose of the
land in the 30 year period?
•
Is there a risk that the land ends up designated
as a statutory site of special scientific interest,
with the accompanying restrictions that will
consequentially be imposed?
The proposals are a demonstration by the
government of their desire to improve our
environment and will provide a new opportunity for
landowners and developers to work together for
their mutual benefit.
Sophie Henwood, Property Senior Associate
Second Staircases Mandated in
New London Residential High
Rise Developments
The government launched a consultation in
December 2022 proposing the introduction
of measures to require a second staircases
in new residential buildings of over 30 meters
(approximately 10 storeys). The consultation
period has now ended and, it is anticipated that
the measures will be introduced with a very short
transition period, benefiting only those buildings well
on their way to completion. However, in February
2023 London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced
that the requirement for a second staircase as
proposed in the government consultation would be
implemented in London with immediate effect and
would therefore apply to all new residential high rise
planning applications.
Developers will need to evaluate and consider
whether planned projects will need to be redesigned
to include a second staircase. This may impact on
the cost and viability of future projects. Several large
developers have already pulled their applications
and redesigned their schemes as a result of the
new requirements. The new requirements in fact
fall some way short of recommendations made
by the National Fire Chiefs Council and The Royal
Institute of British Architects, which recommended
that a second staircase be required in all residential
developments of over 18 meters (approximately 6
storeys), so as to align with other measures in the
Building Safety Act and the requirements already in
place in Scotland.
