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Written question asked by Greg Smith (Conservative) on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 16 July 2026. It was answered by Mary Creagh (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Planning Permission: Biodiversity

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of planning applications her Department expects to remain subject to the biodiversity gain condition once the 0.2 hectare, temporary permission and proposed brownfield residential exemptions are in force, in the context of her Department's estimate that the first and third of these alone would exempt between 63 and 78 per cent of eligible applications.

Answer

Defra have published an impact assessment alongside regulations, implementing changes to biodiversity net gain for smaller developments. This shows around 80% of planning applications are already exempt from BNG under existing exemptions, such as for householder development, which are having little of no impact on biodiversity. We expect that the new exemption for sites of 0.2 hectares or less will exempt around an additional 51% of residential planning applications that are currently eligible for biodiversity net gain.

The consultation on a potential additional targeted exemption for residential brownfield development closed on 10 June 2026. All responses and evidence submissions are being analysed and the Government will respond to the consultation in due course.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
18731
Session
2026-27
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Biodiversity Housing Exemptions Planning permission
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk