Wildflowers - James Adler
Biodiversity Net Gain and Habitat Banking in Suffolk
Buy high-quality, high-integrity Biodiversity Units that support nature recovery and wildlife conservation in Suffolk, with Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
Suffolk Wildlife Trust offers the ‘gold standard’ in off-site Biodiversity Units in Suffolk – for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), voluntary / ESG investors, or charitable donors. Our habitat bank sites have been designed to deliver for wildlife and nature recovery as their primary purpose, providing a dynamic mosaic of habitats that serve to buffer, expand, and connect existing nature reserves and high-value designated wildlife sites, following the ‘Lawton principles’ of more, bigger, better, and joined places for nature.
As the freehold owner, we can deliver biodiversity gains in perpetuity, not just for 30 years – giving our Biodiversity Units a legacy that will endure.
We have several sites across Suffolk ready to deliver Biodiversity Units now, ranging from fallowed arable land to well-developed grass/scrub mosaics, in parcel sizes ranging from <5 to >50ha.
What are Biodiversity Units?
Biodiversity Units represent the value for biodiversity of a particular wildlife habitat, its age, condition, location, so that any change in a habitat can be measured in terms of the change in its biodiversity value.
For example, if a meadow were plowed and sown with wheat, there would be a decrease in the number of Biodiversity Units associated with that piece of land, but if the opposite happened and a wheat field was converted into a meadow, its biodiversity value would increase.
This allows people to calculate the change in Biodiversity Units because of different activities, and if they need to do more to deliver a net gain in biodiversity – for example from building a house. Visit our 'What is Biodiversity Net Gain' page to find out more.
Why is Suffolk Wildlife Trust selling Biodiversity Units?
New planning regulations coming into force in 2024 will mean most new development in England will need to demonstrate a ‘net gain’ in biodiversity compared with pre-development levels. With other Wildlife Trusts, Suffolk Wildlife Trust has been working hard to make sure this new ‘Biodiversity Net Gain’ requirement will deliver genuine and meaningful gains and contribute to nature recovery. At the same time, corporate investment in nature is increasing as private companies increasingly seek to do the right thing for the environment.
By selling Biodiversity Units to fund habitat creation for nature recovery, we want to make sure Biodiversity Net Gain really works for wildlife and at the same time get more companies investing in helping to create a wilder Suffolk.
Wilder Ecology
Suffolk Wildlife Trust operates an in-house consultancy service which can deliver the following BNG related services:
- Evaluation of baseline habitats and their ecological value
- Evaluation of proposed intervention leading to habitat change (including enhancement and habitat creation opportunities)
- Application of Defra’s Statutory Biodiversity Metric designed by Natural England