Goals, barriers and enablers to realising biodiversity delivery through new development

Hughes, Philippa; Sinnett, Danielle; Lamond, Jessica

Abstract

The protection and enhancement of biodiversity through development is a key challenge for planning. In England, the planning system has adopted a mitigation hierarchy, which seeks to focus development in less sensitive areas, or mitigate or compensate for any biodiversity loss. Despite this, planning decisions are frequently criticised for not sufficiently safeguarding nature through the development process. Notably, and most recently, the introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain aims to halt reverse biodiversity loss by requiring all new development to achieve a 10% increase in biodiversity compared to the pre-development baseline. However, delivery of biodiverse developments may also be blocked or enabled by different factors throughout the development process, including balancing other policy agendas (e.g. affordable housing), client requirements, land values and expertise in the development teams. However, the relative importance of these and their relevance for different stakeholder groups is not well understood for biodiversity as a specific objective beyond the delivery of green infrastructure. Therefore, this paper presents an overview of the key goals barriers and enablers encountered in realising greater biodiversity through new urban development and redevelopment projects.
The paper used a Delphi expert panel method to rank the importance of goals, barriers and enablers to biodiversity delivery as identified through a literature review. Legislation and its enforcement emerged as the primary lever for improved biodiversity delivery whereas economic motivations are currently not considered significant enough. The findings also highlighted the lack of preparedness in skills, knowledge and resources among planners to appropriately ensure that legislative aims are delivered. They also highlight differences of opinion between stakeholders on the viability of biodiversity delivery and the extent to which biodiversity can be comfortably co-delivered alongside other objectives. Overall, the research provides an improved understanding of biodiversity delivery which can support improvements in the development process in England and elsewhere.

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference: Planning for Nature/Nature of Planning
• Start Date: Sep 2, 2024
• End Date: Sep 4, 2024
• Acceptance Date: Jun 20, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 29, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 29, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 11, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Biodiversity; Cost, Urban Areas; New Development; Health and Wellbeing
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13930433