Submit a site for Biodiversity Net Gain or Habitat Site Restoration

All submissions will receive and acknowledgement email or a letter to say the form has been received.

Biodiversity Net Gain sites

All sites submitted for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) will be reviewed against the exclusion criteria set out in Appendix 1 of the Expression of Interest (EOI) form. Those sites that are excluded will be taken no further at this stage. All remaining sites will be assessed against a list of basic criteria by Council Officers from the relevant Local Authority; this will be based on current guidance available at the time.

Where there is sufficient evidence to show that the site would be suitable for BNG, the sites we will then be sent to external consultants for further pre-feasibility or a feasibility assessment (any personal data will not be shared with the consultants). We will only contact landowners further where a site is being sent for full feasibility assessment.

Not all sites will be taken forward, this decision will be made based on:

• the data available
• the suitability of the site for the intended use
• the level of BNG credits that could potentially be delivered
• what the overall need is across the catchments

We are particularly looking for those sites that could provide multiple benefits such as those that provide flood risk reduction and/or recreational benefits while supporting farm diversification.

Habitat Site Restoration

The potential for such sites to contribute towards Habitat Site restoration will be considered through the development of any future Protected Site Strategy or Restoration Plan. At this stage there are no timeframes for the production of these documents however the partner Authorities are keen to restore our Habitat Sites at pace and are working with partners to identify the most appropriate means for doing so.