From 2024, it is a legal requirement under the Environment Act 2021 that all developments (unless exempt) must demonstrate a net gain of at least 10%. The council therefore expects non-exempt planning submissions to deliver a 10% net gain for biodiversity, even if there are no other likely impacts on biodiversity. Additional information, including a statutory metric will need to be supplied with your planning application before it can be validated. See 'further information' below for additional guidance.
Habitat Banks
Cherwell District Council wishes to encourage landowners to set up Habitat Banks within the district to facilitate Nature Recovery and help developers deliver Biodiversity Net Gain as part of the Planning process.
Landowners or brokers interested in establishing a habitat bank within the Cherwell District should make initial contact with ecology@cherwell-dc.gov.uk. Habitat bank criteria and guidance can be found below.
In order to enter into a Legal agreement (s.106) with a Habitat Bank Provider, we require habitat banks to fulfil certain criteria and to submit information to support these.
- The applicant must have the legal right to create and sell the Biodiversity units
- The habitat proposals are appropriate in that location, offer a good outcome for biodiversity and are likely to succeed long term
- The Biodiversity unit uplift must be additional and follow best practice principles
- The applicant must agree to the council’s legal, monitoring, remediation, and enforcement provisions and costs
The aim of the list below is to assist in identifying the information the council requires a landowner to submit in order to register their application with our Habitat Banking Service and to proceed to an agreement following assessment by the council.
Note, if you are using a broker or facilitator, they may have their own additional criteria. Provision of further information to that listed below may be required in certain circumstances and the council may request this prior to any decision or s.106 agreement proceeding.
For initial enquiries please contact Ecology@Cherwell-dc.gov.uk to discuss setting up a no obligation meeting to discuss the process and potential of your habitat bank. Submission of your documentation to register with the Habitat Banking service is also to the Ecology Team who will assess your application.
Stage 1 – In general, the council will require this information at registration of your application to agree a habitat bank.
Stage 2 – Information required to be provided prior to any legal agreement being completed.
| Stage | Requirement | Suggested documents/format/information to include |
| 1.1 | Location Plan | A4 or A3 plan, to scale which must include a clear red-line boundary. |
| 1.2 |
Habitat bank proposal/cover letter. Ecological appraisal and Biodiversity Impact Assessment |
BNG Report, baseline habitat survey report, with Statutory Biodiversity Impact assessment metric (as excel spreadsheet) and completed condition assessments provided, any limitations fully shown. Check of strategic significance of site. Justification as to how site delivers the best biodiversity outcome for Cherwell. Details of any species-specific benefits of the proposals. Detail of whether habitats have been created in advance. Detail of any existing agreements to sell units or units already allocated to developments. |
| 1.3 | Provision of a detailed Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan (HMMP) |
Plans showing all habitats proposed for enhancement with creation details and timing. Ongoing management details for each habitat type. Evidence of additionality and adherence to net gain best practice principles. Dates for commencement of ‘establishment’ and ‘monitoring’ phases to be agreed. Statement as to how often LA will receive monitoring reports to review. Details of who is going to be responsible for the habitat management if different from the owner. Outline of contingency plans to ensure the habitat proposed will continue to be enhanced and maintained as proposed |
| 1.4 |
Evidence of applicants legal control over the land Other interested parties must be considered e.g. Tenants/Leaseholders/Chargees Details of any leasehold agreement or tenancy agreement; or Any other contract that enables the habitat bank/broker to deliver BNG for a minimum of 30 years on the land. Details of who needs to be a party to the s.106. Details of the Providers appointed Solicitors or in-house Solicitor. |
Up to date HMLR Title Register and Title Plan(s) must be provided by the Owner or their agents; and If relevant: Copy of any leasehold agreements; Copy of any s.106 agreements; Copy of any Option agreements; Copy of any Unilateral Notices. |
| 1.5 | Agreement to cover the Council’s costs. | Provision of a legal undertaking for legal costs whether the agreement proceeds to completion or not and undertaking to pay departmental set-up/administrative costs up until completion of s.106 agreement. |
| 1.6 | No conflicting permissions/consents/licences | Statement that no conflicting consents are known, or any consents required have been secured and all reasonable due diligence checks have been undertaken. Documents to be submitted only if required. |
| 1.7 | Landowner prepared to enter into a s.106 with the LPA to agree the type/ number of biodiversity units available and the management and maintenance schedule of the land for at least 30 years from the date of allocation of each unit |
Statement of intent. Written consent from owner to broker (as relevant) to act on their behalf and decision on who is a signatory of the s.106 agreement. |
| 2.1 | Agreement to pay the council monitoring fees (see information below) to cover the resource required to monitor the ongoing habitat establishment and review assessments which will be received | Statement of intent after discussion with LA. |
| 2.2 | Permission for Cherwell DC to enter land for spot checks. Agreement on how to deal with a fundamental breach of management prescriptions. | Statement of intent. |
| 2.3 |
Checks of all other environmental constraints to the proposals (e.g. soil analysis, hydrological conditions, archaeological constraints, landscape constraints. Infrastructure for machinery access or for livestock where grazing is required) |
Checks are the responsibility of the habitat bank owner and should be detailed in a separate report or within the HMMP Cherwell DC will not accept any liability for checks not undertaken and which lead to difficulty in delivering agreed habitats. |
It is important to note that agreeing to habitat banks is not a statutory requirement of the council. There is no framework that governs this discretionary process. As such, the council cannot be held to any specific deadlines or timings, process or decision-making protocol. The council will endeavour to deal with communications, submissions and proposals in a timely manner, but in periods of high workload this may take some time.
Further information
GOV.UK on BNG and the requirements for your planning application
Biodiversity net gain planning practice guidance.
Sell biodiversity units as a land manager
Meet your BNG requirements: steps to take for land managers
Monitoring fees
Cherwell District Council recover the costs of administration and the monitoring of planning obligations (Section 106 agreements) by securing monitoring fees. The monitoring fee will be calculated by the schedule below. Where the council considers it justified (for example larger or complex sites) a bespoke approach to calculating the BNG monitoring fee will be taken.
The habitat bank monitoring fee is calculated to account for the administration and monitoring of compliance with the planning obligation for the entire length of the agreement. Where planning obligations are proposed for different lengths of time, the BNG monitoring fee will be proportionally varied.
1. Hourly Rate
The review and assessment of BNG monitoring reports, plus associated visits to habitat bank sites, must be undertaken by a suitably qualified and experienced ecological professional. The councils Senior Ecologist is the appropriate officer to undertake the review of BNG monitoring reports. Referring to Development Management’s bespoke fees/costs calculator, the Senior Ecology Officer has an hourly rate of £70.59.
2. Frequency of Monitoring Intervals
Each habitat bank planning obligation will include approximately eight monitoring intervals throughout the length of the agreement. These typically will take place at years 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30. Planning obligations of differing lengths may require more or fewer monitoring intervals or monitoring on different years. This will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
3. Time per Monitoring Interval
Monitoring intervals are likely to require the Council to engage in: general administration, review of monitoring reports, site visits, and statutory data collection/reporting. The length of time spent per monitoring event will depend on the size of the habitat bank. Three size classes of habitat bank are accounted for, with an estimation for review time taken per monitoring interval of 0-50 ha – 8 hours, 50-75 ha – 10 hours, 75-100 ha – 12 hours.