#277: Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

This has been featured on BBC's Countryfile a few times.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) relates to new housing developments which are of a particular size.

The policy is now live, and Natural England and DEFRA have produced a tool to help developers work out their obligations.

This Guardian article outlines more about the scheme.

This is claimed to help with Nature Recovery.

From the GOV.UK website.

BNG is a way of creating and improving natural habitats. BNG makes sure development has a measurably positive impact (‘net gain’) on biodiversity, compared to what was there before development.

In England, BNG is becoming mandatory under Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021).

Developers must deliver a BNG of 10%. This means a development will result in more or better quality natural habitat than there was before development (allegedly)

Image: Housing being built on the edge of Cambridge - image shared under CC license by Alan Parkinson

#151: CPRE: the countryside charity

The latest in a series of posts on organisations who provide resources and run projects which may be of interest to those teaching the new GCSE Natural History specification, and may well also make good visiting speakers for schools offering the new specification.

CPRE were previously known as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, but is now known as the countryside charity.

They have had a series of campaigns running for many years on the theme of protecting the countryside and raising awareness of the importance of some of the everyday elements of the countryside which people may not realise are of particular importance. These include campaigns on hedgerows, which are thereatened with removal in many locations.

In addition to their national website and policy work, they also have local groups focussing on specific local issues.

They have just released their latest report: a 2023 study on Local Green Spaces.

#55: Natural History Reading List #3. 'Divide' by Anna Jones

Divide is a book by rural affairs journalist Anna Jones, which was published towards the beginning of 2022. It is now available in paperback. The book explores the relationship between urban and rural areas.

Anna Jones is a journalist who has written widely in this area.

Its subtitle is: 'The Relationship Crisis between Town and Country', and it has a series of sections exploring different aspects of the 'broken' relationship which means that many urban dwellers don't really understand rural life.

Anna Jones' own website includes some useful additional reading and some details of her journalism pieces, which would be of use for some elements of the proposed draft specification.

The publishers' description:

“Divide is a ground-breaking exploration of the urban and rural cultural division. This book is a plea and a call to action. It warns that unless we learn to accept and respect our social, cultural and political differences as town and country people, we are never going to solve the chronic problems present in our food system and environment. As we stare down the barrel of climate change, only farmers – who manage two thirds of the UK’s landscape – working together with conservation groups can create a healthier food system and bring back nature in diverse abundance. But this fledgling progress is hindered and hamstrung by simplistic debates that still stoke conflict between conservative rural communities and the liberal green movement.Each chapter, from Home and Work, Politics and Diversity to Animals and Food, Environment and Community, explores a different aspect of the urban/rural disconnect, weaving case studies and research with Anna’s personal stories of growing up on a small, upland farm.

A rural affairs journalist, Anna Jones has a unique perspective and insight into the cultural, agricultural and social issues that often divide rather than unite. Having grown up on a sheep farm in the Welsh borders, and later lived in urban settings, her media sensibility sees the reasons why these two disparate sections of society need to respect their differences and recognise each other’s strengths and work together to protect and preserve the land.”