First Northumberland BNG units come to market
H&H Land & Estates has helped develop the 13-acre site near Corbridge, which will provide 33 grassland and two hedgerow units to North East developers looking to increase their biodiversity net gain.
The units have a potential market value of between £20,000 to £30,000 each and can be bought by housebuilders struggling to achieve the minimum 10% environmental requirement on a development.
Developers are able to purchase the equivalent gain from an ‘off-site’ provider.
Landowner Christopher Porter acquired the grass field in 2015 and initially approached H&H about the woodland creation scheme, before learning about biodiversity units.
Porter said: “I realised that potentially this could be more lucrative and less intrusive if I abandoned the proposed woodland scheme and instead went down the route of converting my lowland hay meadow from poor condition to good condition, and at the same time plant a new hedgerow.
“At that stage, BNG had not been formally introduced and it was not until February this year that it finally became law.”
He continued: “Once [the paperwork was] complete, I progressed a Section 106 agreement with Northumberland County Council.
“Essentially this is a promise to carry out the work and maintain it for a 30-year period… With the S106, the HMMP and the metric in place, you are then ready to apply to Natural England to register biodiversity units.
“Developers can now search the Register and will see the habitat units being created – the first in Northumberland.”
Porter concluded: “I think this is a great scheme, and I am a believer that if we can do anything to combat global warming and encourage wildlife, it has to be a good thing. What I also think is important is that we will continue to farm the land, to improve from a lowland meadow in poor condition to good condition.”
H&H managing director, Tim Sedgewick, said: “We are delighted that we have helped to get this over the finish line for this client, and we are looking forward to completing the sale of units on this land and helping other landowners to achieve the same success in tapping into the BNG market.”
