Habitat management and monitoring are integral to effective biodiversity net gain (BNG) implementation. This blog may be helpful if you’re a:
- land manager planning on (or already delivering) off-site BNG
- developer planning on delivering significant on-site BNG
- responsible body or local authority reviewing gain plans or overseeing obligations and agreements
- advisor supporting any of these groups
A Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan (HMMP) will help you understand the information you may need alongside a BNG proposal. Natural England have developed a handy template, which you can access and find out more about here:
To set the scene, we’ve answered some key questions below.
Why is a habitat management and monitoring plan so important for BNG?
Well planned management and monitoring is vital to the successful delivery of habitat on-site and off-site. It enables you to set target conditions for habitat establishment, track progress against these, identify any risks or issues in habitat development, and make adjustments as needed.
Providing information on habitat management and monitoring is key to BNG delivery:
- For both off-site gains and significant on-site gains, as part of your planning obligation or conservation covenant, you’ll have to agree on habitat management and monitoring with your responsible body or local authority.
- For off-site gains, you will have to submit habitat management and monitoring information when you register your land as a biodiversity gain site.
- For significant on-site gains, you may need to provide habitat management and monitoring information alongside your biodiversity gain. You can check this with the local authority your planned development is in.
- ‘Significant’ on-site gains are defined in guidance, available here.
A habitat management and monitoring plan provides well-needed structure to how you deliver and manage habitat. Well communicated management and monitoring will reduce ambiguity in the agreement you make with your local authority or responsible body, when securing the off-site or significant on-site gai. The plan will ensure you and your responsible authority are on the same page about what ‘good’ looks like for the planned habitats, target conditions over the 30 year period and how often you’re undertaking monitoring.
What do you need to include in your plan?
You can use Natural England’s template to help get you started.
If you want to create your own plan, you must include:
- your planned management activities
- when and how you’ll monitor your site (this may vary per type of habitat)
- when and how you’ll report monitoring results to the responsible body or LPA
- when and how you’ll review your management proposals
- how you’ll restore the biodiversity value of your site if it fails to reach target conditions
For example, if you plan to create 2 hectares of grassland, you will provide information on:
- when and how you’ll sow the seed (including the type and quantity of seed mix if using)
- when and how you’ll carry out the cuts
- when and how you’ll control undesirable species (these should be specified in plan)
- if you’ll be grazing (and in what density)
- when and how you’ll monitor the grassland and report the results
- when and how you’ll review management of the grassland
- how you’ll restore the grassland if it failsto reach target condition
How can you undertake habitat monitoring?
Monitoring may include surveys, regular observations and recording the progress in your habitat management and monitoring plan.
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