Biodiversity Net Gain

The Biodiversity Metric¹ is used to calculate how a potential development will change the biodiversity of the site – it works by assessing the current value of the land and the potential gains or losses bought about by the project. These values are given as ‘biodiversity units’. 

To use the biodiversity metric, you will require certain information about the proposed development, including: 

• Size and type of the habitat, this may be area (such as grassland, lakes or woodland) hedgerows, or watercourses  
• Condition of each section of habitat 
• Any local nature priorities within the site. 

There are two different metric types which will be used to assess sites; the standard metric and the small site metric. The metric used will depend on the size of the site.

Government has approved the use of digital tools to help complete the metric, provided they do not harm the quality of ecological information provided.

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-biodiversity-metric-tools-and-guides?fbclid=IwAR3t_S8djN97HZzsb8H9ISdfVqDiUZJcSR7pp4Kz5zHRFK5KWoLjPBlmRcw