Agenda item

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, on the Council’s biodiversity duty.

The Leader provided a brief introduction to the report, highlighting The Environment Act 2021, which had introduced a strengthened 'biodiversity duty' requiring all public authorities in England to consider what they could do to conserve and enhance biodiversity.  Local authorities and local planning authorities were required to publish a biodiversity report which set out how they would comply with this duty and the actions they could take. Thereafter, authorities would have to publish an updated report within 5 years of the end date of the previous reporting period.

The Act had also introduced a mandatory requirement for a minimum of 10% ‘Biodiversity Net Gain’ (BNG) from major developments.  The report included details of the authority’s approach the BNG.

Councillor Zak Khan considered that the work done so far was a good news story for the Council.  He would be keen to see further publicity about how the Council was continuing to protect its green spaces and what positive impacts had been achieved in the light of the environmental duties now in place.  The Leader responded that the updated Local Plan was expected to be adopted during the summer.  It might be appropriate to ask the Head of Planning and Transportation for further details about Biodiversity at that time.  Councillor Kimberley Whitehead commented that the proposed Budget for 2026/27 included funding for on-going improvements at the Brookside (Bury Meadows) Restoration Project and the Bullough Park Project.  The Council was striving to secure investment for the future.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The Council had a statutory duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity (habitats and species) as set by the Environment Act 2021 and the amended Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (NERC Act).  This was known as ‘the biodiversity duty’.

A key effect of the Environment Act was to amend s.40 of the NERC Act from a duty to ‘conserve’ to a requirement to both ‘conserve’ and ‘enhance’, with the aim to provide for the enhancement or improvement of biodiversity, not just its maintenance in its current state.

To comply with the Biodiversity Duty the Council as a public authority, had to

• Consider what it could do to conserve and enhance biodiversity;
• Agree policies and specific objectives based on its consideration;
• Act to deliver its policies and achieve its objectives; and
• Report on its biodiversity duty actions.

Government guidance provided advice on complying with the duty and reporting on this compliance.  The end date of the first reporting period was stated as ‘no later than 1^st January 2026’.

The Council had to publish a Biodiversity Duty Report within 12 weeks of the period’s end to inform progress on actions taken.  Therefore, for a reporting period ending 1^st January 2026, the publication deadline was 26^th March 2026.

The end date of subsequent reporting periods should be no later than 5 years after the end of the previous reporting period i.e. the next reporting window will close no later than 1^st January 2031.

By law, the report had to include:

• a summary of the action the Council had taken to comply with the biodiversity duty;
• how the Council planned to comply with the biodiversity duty in the next reporting period; and
• any other information the Council considered appropriate.

Reports from local planning authorities also had to include the following biodiversity net gain (BNG) information:

• the actions the Council had taken to meet BNG obligations;
• details of BNG resulting, or expected to result, from biodiversity gain plans the Council had approved; and
• how the Council planned to meet BNG obligations in the next reporting period.

The Biodiversity Duty Report, which was included in the report as Appendix 1, had followed advice provided by Defra to define its structure and content.

The Biodiversity Duty Report summarised the actions the Council had taken to comply with the biodiversity duty and demonstrated that the Council had existing policy, strategy and practices that met this duty.

Examples included:

• The Council’s Corporate Strategy had prioritised making the Council’s activities and operations Net Zero by 2030 and promoted making the most of the natural environment through enhancement of habitats, positive land management and partnership working.
• The Council’s Development Plan, comprising the Hyndburn Core Strategy (2012), Development Management DPD (2018), Accrington Area Action Plan and emerging Local Plan 2040, contained policies that sought to conserve and enhance biodiversity.
• Undertaking of woodland planting initiatives on Council owned and privately owned land in the Borough.
• Positive management of existing natures reserves and woodlands (e.g. Brookside (Bury Meadows) and Bullough Park).
• Implementation of differential mowing regimes in the Council’s parks, with areas left to rewild and work scheduled to remove dead, dying, diseased or otherwise dangerous trees and their replacement on Council owned land.

Separate to the Biodiversity Duty, The Environment Act had introduced a mandatory requirement for a minimum of 10% ‘Biodiversity Net Gain’ (BNG) from major development sites from 12^th February 2024 and for small sites from 2^nd April 2024 (amended from November 2023).  This required new developments to leave the natural environment in a better state than beforehand.  Developers had to deliver a minimum 10% increase in biodiversity value compared to the pre-development habitat, aiming to enhance ecological connectivity and create habitats.

BNG was measured using Defra’s biodiversity metric and was managed and secured through the planning process.  Officers had worked and would continue to work constructively with developers to ensure that developments avoided the most harmful impacts, ensure that unavoidable harm was adequately mitigated, and that on-site biodiversity was integrated and enhanced as part of good design principles.

Aligned with the Biodiversity Duty and Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, the Council had completed Biodiversity Baseline Assessments for all sites allocated for development within the emerging Local Plan 2040 which would cover the period 2021 to 2040.  The Local Plan allocated land for housing and employment development in the Borough to meet identified needs.  In summary, the assessments identified that:

• Based on the loss of all existing habitats on each site, development of the six employment sites would result in a loss of 442.21 habitat units and 13.04 hedgerow units.
• Based on the loss of all existing habitats on each site, development of the five gypsy and traveller sites would result in a loss of 11.51 habitat units and 0.35 hedgerow units.
• Development of the nineteen housing sites would result in the loss of 782.81 habitat units and 19.82 hedgerow units.

This indicative habitat baseline provided an opportunity for the Council to predict the ‘worst case’ scenario loss of biodiversity due to development up to 2040.  The Council was then able to estimate the amount of ‘habitat gain sites’ that might be required within the Borough to offset the estimated biodiversity net loss.

A habitat gain site (or Biodiversity Gain Site) was a designated area of land, registered with Natural England, specifically developed or enhanced to create a measurable increase in biodiversity value.  These sites, often secured for at least 30 years via legal agreements (e.g. s106 or conservation covenants), provided "biodiversity units" to compensate for habitat loss elsewhere. 

In the event that developments (or developers) were unable to achieve the required 10% Biodiversity Gain Site on-site (or off-site on their own land), landowners, including the Council, could register their land as ‘habitat gain sites’ where the resultant biodiversity units could be sold to developers or other entities needing to compensate for habitat loss on their development sites.

The Council had considered its own land assets, with a view to creating local habitat gain sites.  The Council had assessed 29 Council-owned sites, and completed 29 Habitat Management and Monitoring Plans, one for each site.

In summary, the total number of baseline habitat units was 2,256.54 and 5.68 hedgerow units.  Habitat creation and enhancement over a 30-year period could result in an increase of 718.62 habitat units and 9.32 hedgerow units.

Further work was ongoing to investigate the potential to register Council-owned habitat gain sites, although the mechanism to register sites was complex and the demand for biodiversity units had first to be established.

There were no alternative options for consideration or reasons.

Resolved                                 (1)   That Cabinet approves the Biodiversity Duty Report for publication in accordance with the requirements of the Environment Act 2021.

(2)   That Cabinet delegates authority to the Head of Planning and Transportation to make minor amendments to the Council’s Biodiversity Duty Report in consultation with the Portfolio Holder.