What are Habitat Banks?
Habitat banking provides opportunities for landowners to create or restore habitat to offset the impacts of development so ‘biodiversity units’ can be generated from the habitat enhancement. Those enhancements are converted into ‘units’ or ‘credits’ ready for selling or trading within Nature Markets / Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Market. For more information on Biodiversity Net Gain read the GOV.UK website
The biodiversity units can then be sold to developers seeking to comply with the legal requirement of delivering mandatory 10% BNG on planning applications.
A step by step process has been produced to help guide the creation of a habitat bank.
Part of the process is to legally secure the management activities necessary to enhance nature on the land within the habitat bank through either a Conservation Covenant agreement (with a responsible body) or planning obligation (with a Local Planning Authority e.g. S106 Agreement).
What is a Responsible Body?
A responsible body is an organisation designated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) under the Environment Act 2021 to form and hold conservation covenants.
In May 2024, Warwickshire County Council was designated a responsible body enabling landowners to secure conservation covenant agreements within England and bring habitat bank schemes forward. The responsible body then monitors and enforces the actions and requirements under the covenant. WCC’s Natural Capital team oversee the responsible body obligations and manage WCC’s habitat bank review process.
What is a Conservation Covenant?
A conservation covenant is a private, voluntary land management agreement to conserve nature. Conservation covenants are used as they provide greater flexibility than S106’s used in planning. The agreement sets out what a landowner and responsible body must or must not do to help conserve the land for a specified duration.
A habitat bank scheme will require independent legal advice before entering into an agreement. WCC’s legal team will finalise the details of the conservation covenant agreement.