In their Election Manifesto, Labour made a commitment to ensure that housing and infrastructure development would be done in a way that “promotes nature’s recovery”. But today’s announcement adds to the long list of ways in which this promise is being broken.Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts
Biodiversity Net Gain Government Announcement
Today’s announcement from Government weakens nature-positive planning.
Craig Bennett continues: "More specifically, in January of this year when he was Environment Secretary, Steve Reed made a solemn promise that the Government was “committed to Biodiversity Net Gain”. Now, as Housing Secretary, he has broken his word and has weakened it to such an extent that a combined area across England the size of Windsor Forest will now not be restored for nature. It confirms that the majority of planning applications will not now contribute to nature’s recovery. This will see a significant chunk of jobs and private sector investment in nature’s recovery lost.
This is happening because from Keir Starmer down, this Government seems to be wedded to an outdated, discredited old-world view that the choice before us is one of nature OR housing, even though there are plenty of examples of how you can have both, and even though it’s abundantly clear the British people want both. We should be working to rebuild our natural infrastructure alongside new housing and built infrastructure, not engage in tired old performative politics that trades one off against each other”.
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became a legal requirement for most developments in February 2024. It was intended to cover the vast majority of new developments. Developers were legally required to deliver at least a 10% increase in biodiversity when major building projects were undertaken.
In May 2025, the Government published a consultation including
controversial plans to exempt small development sites – those under 0.5ha –from BNG, pledging to “streamline and improve the BNG system for minor development”.
Today's announcement in the House of Commons by the Planning Minister includes a new 0.2 hectare exemption for Biodiversity Net Gain. This means more developments could go ahead without compensating for the loss of wildlife and habitats.
The government’s full consultation response and implementation timeline has not been published, and is not expected until the new year. The government has not published its evidence base for the decision to exempt sites up to 0.2 hectares.