The Home Builders Federation says that SME developers are facing significant challenges in implementing Biodiversity Net Gain environmental requirements and is calling for the sufficient staffing of local planning departments to address the issues.
The research, based on a survey of housebuilders and a Freedom of Information request from local authorities, found that 98% of SME builders are finding implementing the new requirements a challenge, with delays in the process as a result of a lack of local authority capacity being the biggest barrier.
The HBF says that a lack of capacity in Local Authority planning departments has long been a major frustration for the industry, and now LPAs have the additional responsibility of BNG to contend with, delaying application sign-off further and putting another barrier in the way of increasing housing delivery.
94% of respondents to HBF’s survey said they have experienced delays in processing planning applications due to BNG whilst 90% experienced delays specifically due to insufficient BNG expertise or resources within local authorities.
Despite the significant additional workload required to oversee and monitor BNG, the FOI carried out by HBF found that:
· Nearly 40% of local authorities lack access to in-house ecological expertise
· A quarter of councils have seen ecologists leave their role in the past year
· One in three councils have not expanded their ecology teams since BNG was introduced
· Around a quarter of staff recruited to support BNG requirements are temporary
The research also found that local authorities are increasingly reliant on external consultants, spending an average of £23,000 per year per council on BNG-related consultancy fees. This constitutes the majority of Defra’s BNG funding for local authorities before the costs of hiring new staff or providing training for existing staff are even taken into account. Furthermore, the National Audit Office estimates that government funding equates to just 0.66 full-time equivalent ecologists per council, far below the level required for effective implementation.
The HBF says that whilst larger sites may be able to accommodate BNG requirements on-site, smaller sites are often reliant on buying off-site biodiversity units to meet the requirements. However, one year on there is still a shortage of suitable credits available, increasing their costs and posing a substantial threat to the viability of smaller house building sites. 85% of home builders with small sites believe the costs of BNG are not proportionate given the size of their projects.
Survey respondents also identified inconsistent BNG guidance, additional local policy requirements, and a lack of suitable external ecological expertise as posing a risk to their business and their ability to build.
The HBF is calling on the government to ensure LPAs are sufficiently staffed and placed on a sustainable financial footing, and that a strategy needs to be implemented to address the recruitment crisis for ecologists in both the private and public sectors.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive at the HBF, said: “The home building industry has embraced BNG and is committed to both increasing housing supply and protecting and enhancing our natural environment.”
“However, if we are to increase supply alongside these new requirements it is vital to address emerging barriers to implementation, such as the insufficient resourcing of local authorities, shortage of ecologists, and inadequate national guidance. The government must provide clarity, funding, and support to planning departments so that they can deal with applications effectively and remove this barrier to getting new homes built.”
