DEFRA’s New £500m Planning Rules to Boost Nature Restoration

The UK government, through the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), has unveiled a new planning policy designed to channel £500 million from developers into nature restoration efforts. At the core of the initiative is the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirement—introduced in 2024—mandating that every development project must deliver at least a 10% increase in biodiversity compared to pre-construction conditions. While onsite improvements are preferred, developers may also fulfil their obligations through offsite credits, with the first year already delivering 609 hectares of offsite and 93 hectares of onsite habitat restoration. Once fully implemented, the scheme is expected to benefit over 5,400 hectares annually. Despite these gains, the government is now considering loosening BNG requirements for smaller housing sites, which account for approximately 75% of all applications. Officials argue that easing the rules could accelerate homebuilding, but critics warn that such a rollback risks undermining vital ecological safeguards—especially at a time when the UK remains one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, with only 53% of its biodiversity intact, according to the Biodiversity Intactness Index. Environmental groups have voiced deep concerns about the proposal, characterising it as a potential retreat from critical habitat protections. They warn that reducing regulatory oversight now could transform planning reform into a licence for developers to bypass ecological responsibility—exactly when expansive nature restoration is most urgently needed.