Defra releases report on Biodiversity Offsetting pilots
Defra has reported on its biodiversity offsetting pilots that ran from April 2012 to March 2014.
The report, compiled in June 2014 but not published until 19 February 2016, has shown significant challenges to progressing this initiative, partly due to approach taken by the National Plannning Policy Framework.
Six areas were selected to pilot Defra’s biodiversity offsetting mechanism:
- Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire (CSWAPO)
- Devon (comprising three sub-pilots)
- Doncaster
- Essex
- Greater Norwich
- Nottinghamshire
Defra hop that biodiversity offsetting will speed up the delivery of planning consents where habitat or species are a restricting factor to development and to help the country achieve ‘no net loss’ or ‘net gain’ for biodiversity.