Position Statement: Habitat Banks and the High Weald

We have prepared a Position Statement to provide advice to Local Planning Authorities, Natural England and landowners to help inform habitat bank proposals in the High Weald, and decisions regarding them. Habitat banks are sites which are intended to be managed, through enhancement and habitat creation, to uplift and increase the biodiversity value at that site. This uplift can then be sold as ‘biodiversity units’ to buyers, primarily housing developers, to enable them to fulfil their Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) obligations.

The Position Statement supplements and supports the High Weald AONB Management Plan, and includes:

• a broad overview as to what habitat banks are
• a review of the relevant national legislation
• a summary of the particularly relevant parts of the High Weald AONB Management Plan
• issues for consideration regarding habitat banks in the High Weald National Landscape, including natural beauty and landscape character, farming and natural beauty, wildlife and biodiversity, and grassland impacts
• a practical checklist for those proposing or making decisions regarding Habitat Banks in the HWNL.

Download the Position Statement – Habitat Banks and the High Weald National Landscape

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