Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Nature Opportunity or Planning Fig Leaf?
Watch or listen to the Jan 24th 2024 talks on BNG held at the Friends Meeting House, Priory Road to find out what impact this new planning legislation will have.
National housing targets are leading to urban development expanding deeper into the countryside. Government says that planning rules aimed to prevent increasing loss of nature, whilst also permitting development, can be achieved via BNG legislation. So will BNG work? If so, how well could it work? And if we build it, will wildlife come?
Councillor Steve McAuliffe is an ex-British Army Air Corps soldier and a retired ecologist, arborist and environmental management consultant. He graduated from the University of Sussex with a BSc (Hons) in Ecology and Conservation and recently attained a Master of Research Degree from the University of Brighton where Steve studied Behavioural Ecology specialising in protected species legislation and anthropogenic impact mitigation. Steve also represents Arun District Council on the South Downs National Park Authority. Steve gave the first talk on BNG which is available from the embedded YouTube video below.
Alex Briggs kindly gave the second of four BNG talks and spoke on behalf of Weald to Waves. Alex’s talk can be viewed from the embedded YouTube video below.
Oliver Gammon (Environment Officer at Chichester District Council) shared his broad knowledge of environmental planning matters and delivered the third BNG talk. His talk can be viewed from the embedded YouTube video below.
We were delighted to also be joined by Tony Whitbread (President of Sussex Wildlife Trust). Tony gave the final of the four BNG talks. Tony’s talk can be viewed from the embedded YouTube video below.
All the speakers provided valuable insights and knowledge on the topic of local biodiversity. The event finished with a questions and answers session where our expert panel addressed the audiences concerns and queries. The Question and Answer session can be viewed in the embedded YouTube video below.
Nature cannot survive in fragments. We are establishing a 100-mile nature recovery corridor across Sussex. Connecting our fragmented landscape will boost biodiversity, capture carbon, enhance food production and enrich our rural economy. Please hear more about this Sussex network of farmers, land managers, councils, researchers, wildlife charities, schools, gardeners and community groups by watching or listening to the content provide in the embedded videos above.
